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BX  8947  .V8  P38  1887 
Patton,  Jacob  Harris,  1812- 

1903. 
The  triumph  of  the 

Presbytery  of  Hanover 


t&-  ^h 


•^-^^^-Z^^-^ 


THE 

TRIUMPH    OF   THE    PRESBYTERY 
OF    HANOVER; 

OR, 

SEPARATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE  IN  VIRGINIA. 

WITH  A 

CONCISE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES    FROM  1705  TO  1888. 


7 

JACOB   HARRIS   PATTON,   M.A.,  Ph.D., 

AUTHOR   OF   ''a   concise    HISTORY    OF    THE  AMERICAN    PEOPLE,"    "NATURAL 
RESOURCES   OP  THE   UNITED  STATES,"   ETC. 


<^^^  ^mcc^ 


*      DEC  14  1911 


A,  r 


NEW  YORK: 
ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    COMPANY, 

38  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD   STREET. 


copyright,  1887,  by 
Anson  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Company. 


Edward  O.  Jenkins'   Sons, 

Printers  and  Stereotypers ^ 

20  North  William  St.,  New  York, 


PREFACE 


In  1773,  two  years  before  the  commencement 

of  the  Revolution,  the  Ministers  and  Elders  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  inaugurated  a  move- 
ment for  the  ^'  Separation  of  Church  and  State 
in  Virginia,"  and  during  the  tivelve  succeeding 
years,  never  relaxed  their  efforts  until  every  law 
on  the  statute-book  of  that  State  which  inter- 
fered with  the  religious  rights  of  the  people  was 
swept  away.  Owing  to  the  exciting  incidents 
of  that  period — the  Revolutionary  contest — this 
remarkable  episode  in  the  progress  of  religious 
freedom  was  partially  overlooked,  and  has  since 
been  only  very  briefly  noticed  by  writers  on  the 
general  history  of  the  country. 

In  order  that  the  American  people,  and  es- 
pecially Presbyterians,  might  learn  of  the  inner 
workings  of  this  severe  struggle  ;  of  the  numer- 
ous obstacles  the  Presbytery  had  to  overcome, 
principally  because  of  the  bad  faith  of  the  ma- 
jority in  the  Virginia  House  of  Assembly,  the 

(iii) 


iv  Preface. 

latter  being  aided  and  abetted  by  the  authorities 
of  the  Church  of  England,  then  established  in 
the  Colony — the  author  wrote  a  history  of  that 
contest,  which  was  published  in  the  Presbyterian 
Review  for  January,  1883. 

In  accordance  with  the  views  of  those  whose 
opinions  are  worthy  of  respect,  the  author  has 
republished  that  article,  and  to  which  he  has 
also  added  a  concise  history  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  from  the  organiza- 
tion of  its  first  Presbytery,  at  Freehold,  N.  J., 
in  1705,  to  1888.  This  booklet  contains  a  sum- 
mary of  the  incidents  and  characteristic  princi- 
ples whose  influence  moulded  the  inner  life  of 
this  Church  and  promoted  its  progress  ;  while  it 
omits  the  numerous  details  in  respect  to  the 
separate  organizations  of  Presbyteries  and 
Synods  and  of  individual  churches,  it  goes  into 
detail  sufificient  to  afford  the  general  reader  a 
clear,  and,  it  is  hoped,  a  satisfactory  idea  of  the 
subject.  It  is  highly  proper  to  give  \}i\^  younger 
Presbyterians  of  to-day  an  opportunity  to  learn 
of  the  remarkably  consistent  career  of  their  own 
Church ;  of  its  steady  and  uniform  progress 
from  that  early  day  to  the  present — covering  a 
period  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  years. 


Preface.  v 

This  publication  is  in  view  of  the  prospective 
reunion  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  branches 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1888;  which  re- 
union, if  consummated,  will  be  under  condi- 
tions that  will  render  its  influence  far-reaching 
and  beneficial,  not  merely  to  the  Church  itself, 
but  likewise  to  the  Nation.  The  reasons  for  this 
hope  and  opinion  are  given  in  the  booklet  itself. 

Among  many  other  authorities,  the  following 
have  been  consulted : 

Dr.  Robert  Baird — Religion  in  Anierica. 

Hon.  H.  S.  Randall— Z^/V  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Dr.  Francis  Q.  Hawks — Episcopal  Church  in  Vir- 
ginia. 

Bishop  Meade — Old  Churches  in  Virginia. 

Dr.  W.  H.  Foote — Sketches  of  Virginia. 

Dr.  Abel  Stevens— //z>/^ry  of  Methodis?n. 

Dr.  E.  H.  Gillett — History  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  ift  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge — Constitutional  History  of  the 
same. 

The  latter  two  histories — together  comprising 
three  volumes — are  specially  valuable,  and  sup- 
plement one  another,  and  in  order  to  obtain  a 
minute  and  exhaustive  view  of  the  subject,  both 

should  be  studied. 

J.  H.  P. 

New  York,  Dec,  10,  1887. 


CONTENTS 


SECTION  I 

PAGE 

The  Separation  of  Church  and  State  in 

Virginia, 3 

The  Half-way  Covenant,  4;  Why  the  harsh 
Intolerance  in  Virginia,  7  ;  The  "  Vagrants  "  in 
Connecticut  and  New  York,  8 ;  Illiberal  Laws 
in  Virginia,  10;  Freedom  from  Ecclesiastical 
Clannishness,  12;  Grades  of  Ministerial  Edu- 
cation, 13;  Severe  Conflicts — The  Act  of  Tol- 
eration, 16;  Efforts  to  reform  Clerical  Mor- 
als, 18;  Preachers  appointed  by  the  Crown, 
22 ;  The  English  Church  Established— When  ? 
23;  Influence  of  an  educated  Ministry,  24; 
Conflicts  in  respect  to  Salaries,  25 ;  A  Great 
Principle  Established,  26;  The  Struggle  be- 
gins— The  Memorial,  27;  Committee  on  Re- 
ligion and  Morality,  30;  The  Petitions — The 
Demand  as  a  Right,  31  ;  Upon  whom  fell 
the  Burden  of  the  Conflict,  32 ;  The  Legisla- 
ture met  on  its  own  Grounds,  34 ;  Objection- 
able Laws  partially  repealed,  35;  Prejudices 
roused  —  Tories — Whigs  — Quakers,  37;  The 
General  Assessment— Another  Memorial,  38; 
Defects  in  the  Act  of  Repeal,  40 ;  Security  of 
Religious  Rights  demanded,  41 ;  Protest 
against   incorporating  the  Episcopal  Church, 

(vii) 


viii  Contents, 


43 ;  The  General  Assessment  again,  43 ;  Dif- 
ferent Effects  of  Petitions  and  Arguments,  46 ; 
Contest  in  respect  to  Glebes,  46 ;  A  half  cen- 
tury of  Intolerance  remembered,  48;  An 
Apology  urged,  50;  Who  began  the  Move- 
ment and  secured  the  Result,  51  ;  Religious 
Freedom  and  Patriotism,  54 ;  Opposition  to 
Slavery,  55;  Influence  of  the  Measure  in  New 
England,  56 ;  Personal  Responsibility  Recog- 
nized and  Strengthened,  56 ;  Self-denial  and 
Benevolence,  57 ;  Influence  of  the  Voluntary 
Principle,  58. 

SECTION   II. 

The  National  and  Church  Governments,    .    63 
The  Two  Movements,  63 ;   Kinds  of  Church 
Governments,  64;  Presbyterians  and  the  Pil- 
grims, 66 ;  The  First  Presbytery,  68  ;  Frater- 
nal Intercourse — The  Synod,  69. 


SECTION   III. 

The  Two  Vital  Principles 72 

Cumberland  Presb5n;erians,  73 ;  Value  of  an 
educated  Ministry,  74 ;  Guarding  the  Faith — 
The  Adopting  Act,  Tj. 


SECTION   IV. 

Division  and  Reunion 79 

The  Great  Revival,  79;  The  Old  Side— The 
New  Side,  80;  The  Division  of  the  Synod,  81  ; 
Zeal  for  Religion,  82 ;  The  Reunion,  83. 


Contents.  ix 

SECTION  V. 


PAGE 


The  Troublous  Times, 85 

Patriotism — The  Pastoral  Letter,  85  ;  A  com- 
prehensive Church  Government,  86 ;  Discord- 
ant and  Rival  States,  ZZ. 

SECTION  VI. 

Origin  of  the  General  Assembly,  .        .        .90 
Increase  of  the  Church,  91 ;  Four  Synods  or- 
ganized, 91 ;  The  General  Assembly  constitu- 
ted, 94 ;  The  Address  to  President  Washing- 
ton, 95. 

SECTION   VII. 

The  Progress  of  the  Church,  .       .       .    98 

Doctrinal  Truth  guarded,  99 ;  The  Reunion  of 
1871,  100;  A  Prospective  Reunion,  loi  ;  A 
Christianized  Patriotism,  102  ;  A  Church  Gov- 
ernment Republican  in  Form,  103  ;  Ex  officio 
Members,  105;  Voting  by  Orders,  106;  The 
Ecclesiastical  Despotism,  107. 

SECTION   VIII. 

The  Parity  of  the  Clergy,       .        .       .       .109 
Ministerial   Responsibility,  no;   The  Pastor- 
ates may  be  long,  112;    Advantages   gained, 
113;  Biblical  training,  115. 

SECTION   IX. 

Two  Forces  made  available,    .        .        .        .117 
Blending  the  Elements,  Clerical  and  Lay,  118; 
Fraternal   Intercourse  promoted,  120;  Ignor- 
ing State  Lines,  120;  National  Church  Judica- 
tures, 123. 


X  Contents. 

SECTION  X. 

PAGB 

National  and  Mutual  Good-will  Promoted,  125 
The  Assembly's  Annual  Meetings  a  National 
Benefit,  126;  Progress  and  Expense,  127;  Na- 
tional Unity  desired,  129;  Consecrated  Influ- 
ence, 131 ;  Two  Classes  of  Progress,  131 ;  Pa- 
triotic Duties  of  Church  Members,  133;  De- 
nominational responsibility,  135. 


L 


THE   SEPARATION  OF  CHURCH  AND 
STATE   IN   VIRGINIA. 


THE   SEPARATION   OF   CHURCH   AND 
STATE    IN   VIRGINIA. 

In  a  relation  so  intimate  as  that  of  the  union 
of  Church  and  State,  it  is  not  strange  that  in 
former  times  civil  magistrates  should  have  had 
a  sense  of  responsibility  not  only  pertaining  to 
the  people's  temporal  affairs,  but  also  in  respect 
to  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  In  regard  to  the 
latter  phase  of  their  duties,  though  unable  to  de- 
fine it  clearly,  it  is  evident  that  in  the  perform- 
ance of  their  official  acts  in  matters  relating  to 
the  people  and  the  Church,  they  were  more  or 
less  influenced  by  a  sense  of  this  responsibility. 
Here  is  the  germ  from  which  has  sprung,  and 
often  honestly,  much  of  the  interference  of 
temporal  rulers  with  Church  affairs.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  willingly  or  otherwise 
contributed  aid  in  the  form  of  taxes  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  Church,  wished  to  have  a  share  in 
the  advantages  of  its  ordinances;  and,  though 
they  might  not  be  Christians  in  a  Scriptural 
sense,  and  could  not  fully  comprehend  their  re- 
lationship to  a  Church  spiritual^  they  deemed 

(3) 


4  The  Separation  of 

themselves  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  partici- 
pating in  its  rites,  including  that  of  the  Lord's 
supper.  Thus,  even  in  the  present  day,  where 
there  is  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  in  such 
relation  that  the  former  receives  pecuniary  aid 
from  the  latter,  we  see  a  great  laxity  in  the 
admission  of  persons  to  that  sacred  ordinance. 
Much  more  in  former  times,  if  there  were  any 
advantages  to  be  gained  in  coming  to  the  com- 
munion-table, this  class  wished  to  secure  them, 
since  they  paid  their  share  of  the  expense.  This 
was  a  natural,  though  a  groveling  view  of  the 
question,  and  the  more  intelligent  of  the  uncon- 
verted had  evidently  misgivings  on  the  subject, 
and,  not  being  satisfied  with  their  own  moral 
condition,  partook  of  the  communion  with  a 
confused  sense,  that  it  might  in  some  way  bene- 
fit them  spiritually. 

The  Half-way  Covenant. — The  influences 
that  in  process  of  time  brought  about  the  sepa- 
ration of  Church  and  State  in  this  country,  may 
be  traced  to  the  preaching  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
and  to  the  principles  developed  in  his  contro- 
versy in  respect  to  what  was  termed  the  "  Half- 
way Covenant,"  by  which  persons  making  no 
pretension    to    being  Christians   in    a   spiritual 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.        5 

sense  were  admitted,  among  other  Church  priv- 
ileges, to  the  communion.  This  custom  grew 
out  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  more  than 
from  any  other  cause.  The  objections  of  Ed- 
wards were  based  on  moral  and  spiritual  grounds 
alone ;  arguing  that  none  but  the  regenerate  or 
converted  had  a  right  to  come  to  the  Lord's 
table.  In  time  this  truth  permeated  the  minds 
of  religious  people,  but  more  effectually,  it  would 
seem,  the  Presbyterians  than  the  Congregation- 
alists ;  having  its  share  of  influence  on  the  sep- 
aration of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia,  nearly 
forty  years  before  a  similar  effect  was  produced 
in  New  England.  This  phase  of  the  subject  for 
obvious  reasons  was  scarcely  noticed  in  the  de- 
bates in  the  Legislature  during  the  struggle  in 
Virginia,  though  in  that  controversy  the  under- 
current of  this  sentiment,  influenced  the  minds 
of  the  religious  people  outside  the  State  or 
Episcopal  Church,  and  strengthened  their  oppo- 
sition to  such  laxity  in  the  admission  of  persons 
to  Church  privileges,  which  custom  they  be- 
lieved to  be  injurious  to  pure  spiritual  religion. 
In  his  early  ministry  Jonathan  Edwards  was 
the  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  New 
York,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  partial  to  the 


6  TJie  Separatio7i  of 

form  of  Church  government  practiced  in  that 
denomination  ;  and,  also,  he  agreed  with  their 
views  on  the  non-interference  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate with  spiritual  affairs.  He  afterward  ex- 
pressed his  opinion  of  the  form  of  Church  rule 
then  prevalent  in  New  England,  saying:  "  I  have 
long  been  out  of  conceit  of  our  unsettled,  in- 
dependent, confused  way  of  Church  government 
in  this  land "  {Dr.  E.  H.  Gillette  vol.  ?.,  /.  3). 
On  assuming  the  Presidency  of  Princeton  College 
he  connected  himself  with  the  Presbyterians. 

Up  to  the  time  of  Edwards  there  seems  to 
have  been  little  doubt  as  to  the  advantage  to 
both  parties  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State ; 
the  prevailing  sentiment  being,  that  the  former 
could  not  be  supported  without  the  aid  of  the 
latter.  The  idea  of  sustaining  the  Church  by 
th'e  voluntary  contributions  of  its  own  friends 
had  found  lodgment  only  in  the  minds  of  the 
advanced  few.  We  see  prominent  among  the 
arguments  used  in  behalf  of  this  alliance,  that 
the  Church  ought  to  be  supported  by  the  sec- 
ular power,  on  the  ground  of  the  general  well- 
being  of  society,  as  its  influence  would  promote 
in  the  community  honesty,  industry,  and  mate- 
rial interests  as  well  as  good  morals. 


Church  a7id  State  in    Virginia.        7 

Why  the  harsh  Intolerance  in  Virginia.—  It 

is  proper  to  notice  why  the  contest  in  Virginia 
partook  so  much  of  bitterness,  and  why  the 
*'  Dissenters  "  were  treated  so  harshly  in  that 
colony.  We  can  thereby  divine  why  these  out- 
rages, continuing  for  nearly  a  century,  produced 
their  legitimate  results  in  the  final  retribution 
which  came  upon  the  Established  Church,  when 
it  retained  only  its  church  buildings,  while  its 
rectories  and  glebes  were  sold  under  the  sheriff's 
hammer  for  the  benefit  of  that  public  from 
whom  originally  nearly  all  the  funds  to  purchase 
them  had  been  extorted  in  the  form  of  taxes. 
The  Church  of  England  was  established  by  law 
in  the  colonies  of  New  York,  Virginia,  and  the 
Carolinas.  In  the  first  the  royal  governors  were 
the  most  intolerant  toward  "  Dissenters,"  while 
the  churchmen,  or  its  adherents,  were  more  in- 
different on  the  subject.  Perhaps  they  were 
somewhat  influenced  by  their  surroundings — 
the  tolerant  spirit  of  the  Dutch  residents — and, 
moreover,  the  Episcopal  element  in  that  colony 
did  not  comprise,  it  is  said,  more  than  one-sev- 
enth of  the  population.  In  the  latter  three,  on 
the  contrary,  intolerance  was  instigated  for  the 
greater  part  by  the  clergy  and  lay  churchmen, 


8  The  Separation  of 

the  governors  being  disposed  to  connive  at  the 
exercise  of  religious  freedom  ;  that  is,  they  were 
not  very  energetic  in  enforcing  the  illiberal  laws 
on  that  subject.  Why  the  churchmen  of  Vir- 
ginia were  so  in  contrast  with  those  of  New 
York  may  be  accounted  for,  since  great  num- 
bers of  royalists — cavaliers — in  the  times  of  the 
troubles  preceding  and  during  the  Common- 
wealth fled  to  Virginia,  where  they  were  cordi- 
ally welcomed.  They  afterward  gave  tone  to 
Virginian  society  by  diffusing  their  sentiments 
of  loyalty  to  the  King  and  to  the  Church,  which 
so  ardently  espoused  his  cause ;  they  looked 
upon  the  ''  Dissenters  "  as  enemies  to  both. 

The  "  Vagrants  "  in  Connecticut  and  New 
York. — In  those  days  the  spirit  of  intolerance 
was  not  found  in  the  Established  Church  nor  in 
royal  governors  alone,  as  it  was  the  natural  out- 
growth of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  and 
the  misdirected  zeal  of  secular  rulers.  In  1742 
the  Connecticut  Legislature  passed  a  law  for- 
bidding a  minister  preaching  in  any  parish  ex- 
cept the  one  over  which  he  had  special  charge, 
unless  by  invitation  of  the  settled  minister  or  a 
majority  of  the  congregation.  Ministers  not 
residents  of  the  colony  thus  preaching  were  to 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia,        9 

be  arrested  as  common  vagrants.  Under  the 
latter  law  Samuel  Finley,  afterward  President 
of  Princeton  College,  and  others  were  driven 
from  the  colony,  being  characterized  as  ''  stroll- 
ing preachers  that  were  most  disorderly."  These 
vagra7its  were  Presbyterian  clergymen,  and  no 
doubt  such  high-handed  measures  roused  in 
them  an  antagonism  to  the  union  of  Church  and 
State.  In  consequence  of  these  proceedings  and 
the  experience  of  Presbyterians  in  the  colony  of 
New  York,  this  antagonism  spread  among  that 
class  of  Christians  in  the  middle  colonies  and 
further  South. 

The  Presbyterians  had  been  specially  annoyed 
in  their  earlier  days  when  struggling  for  exist- 
ence as  a  religious  denomination,  both  in  New 
York  and  Virginia,  by  the  intolerance  of  the 
Church  of  England.  They  associated  the  State 
as  the  immediate  power  behind  the  persecution  ; 
though  the  latter,  as  it  was  well  known,  was 
frequently  urged  to  this  course  of  action  by 
the  clergy  of  the  Establishment.  "  For  many 
years,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the  times,  "  in  New 
York,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina, 
the  growth  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
checked  by  persecution  and  intolerance." 


lO  The  Separation  of 

Illiberal  Laws  in  Virginia. — The  laws  were 
grievous  and  illiberal  in  Virginia — more  severe 
than  in  any  other  colony.  The  Established 
churches  were  built  at  the  public  expense  in 
each  county  town,  or  where  there  was  a  court- 
house, thus  occupying  the  positions  of  influence, 
and  the  "sects,"  or  "Dissenters,"  as  they  were 
contemptuously  called  by  self  -  complacent 
churchmen,  were  compelled  to  locate  their 
church  buildings  elsewhere.  For  three-fourths 
of  a  century  rigid  laws  had  been  enforced 
against  those  who  did  not  conform.  It  is  said 
that  until  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution 
there  was  not  a  Presbyterian  or  Baptist  church 
building  in  a  village  in  Virginia,  yet  the  minis- 
ters of  the  former  denomination  were  by  far  the 
most  learned  of  any  class  of  preachers  in  the 
colony.  The  rule  of  the  presbyteries  of  that 
Church  was  then,  as  it  is  to-day,  to  license  only 
those  to  preach  who  have  been  classically  and 
theologically  educated,  unless  under  extraordi- 
nary circumstances. 

Though  "  Dissenters  "  were  permitted  to  have 
church  buildings  only  outside  the  towns,  and 
even  to  have  these,  unless  under  annoying  re- 
strictions,  they  were   sometimes   denied,   they 


CJuirch  and  State  171    Virginia.      1 1 

were,  however,  graciously  warned  by  the  civil 
authorities  to  "  take  the  oaths  enjoined  and  to 
register  the  places  of  their  meetings,  and  be- 
have themselves  peaceably  toward  the  Govern- 
ment." This  discourteous  language  was  used 
in  respect  to  those  Presbyterians  who,  among 
other  reasons,  in  order  to  avoid  the  annoyances 
to  which  they  would  be  subjected  in  the  eastern 
portion  of  Virginia,  migrated  from  Pennsylvania 
to  the  back  part  of  that  colony  and  settled  in 
the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Shenandoah  and  other 
streams  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  As  long  as 
these  settlers  served  as  a  protection  against 
hostile  Indians  they  were  unmolested,  and  were 
permitted  to  have  meeting-houses  where  they 
pleased.  In  time  Germans  and  Quakers,  also 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  for  the  same  reasons, 
perhaps,  migrated  thither;  thus  increasing  the 
number  of  the  inhabitants  as  well  as  the  thrift  of 
the  several  communities.  When  these  settle- 
ments had  grown  in  population  and  prospered, 
the  Establishment  wished  to  occupy  the  ground, 
and  accordingly  the  colonial  authorities  com- 
pelled these  ''  backwoods  dissenters "  to  pay 
taxes  in  order  to  build  edifices  for  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  and  to  support  incumbents  when 


12  The  Separation  of 

there  were  very  few  of  that  denomination  in  the 
region.  The  first  settlers  here  possessed  re- 
markable worldly  as  well  as  church-militant 
qualities  ;  they  being  for  the  most  part  Scotch 
and  Scotch-Irish.  These  characteristics  devel- 
oped themselves  when  the  attempt  was  made  to 
carr>"  this  law  into  effect. 

Freedom  from  Ecclesiastical  Clannishness. 
— The  Presbyterians  did  not  come  as  a  body  to 
this  country  to  form  isolated  settlements,  as  did 
the  Puritans  in  New  England,  the  Dutch  in  New 
York,  the  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  in  Maryland.  When  persecuted 
in  England,  they  preferred,  rather  than  emigrate 
in  a  body,  '■'■  to  struggle  for  liberty  at  home  ;  a 
struggle  which  eventually  was  crowned  with 
success  "  {Dr.  Charles  Hodge ^  pages  19,  20). 
This  may  account  for  the  fact  that  they  were 
so  free  from  a  clannish  ecclesiasticism  ;  though 
strong  in  their  opinions,  they  fell  in  with  the 
religious  people  of  the  colonies  and  promoted 
the  cause  without  arrogating  to  themselves  any 
special  pre-eminence.  They  held  that  Jesus 
Christ  had  established  a  form  of  government 
for  the  Church  ''  distinct  from  the  civil  author- 
ity."     When    Parliament,    in    accordance   with 


Chtcrch  and  State  in    Virginia.      13 

"  the  English  idea  that  the  church  of  any  de- 
nomination was  the  creation  of  the  State," 
abolished  Episcopacy  and  established  Presby- 
terianism,  the  latter  Church,  as  such,  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  that  action  ;  and,  on  the  same 
principle,  they  were  opposed  to  any  interference 
whatever  in  spiritual  matters  by  the  civil  magis- 
trate. "  When  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Charles 
I.  drove  the  English  nation  into  rebellion,  the 
partisans  of  the  Court  were  Episcopalians ;  the 
opposite  party  was,  or  became  in  the  main, 
Presbyterian  "  {Dr.  Hodge,  page  23).  Thesq 
were  their  traditions,  and,  true  to  their  influ- 
ence, the  Presbyterians  harmonized  with  the 
other  denominations  in  the  colonies  in  the 
effort  of  spreading  the  Gospel,  irrespective  of 
the  patronage  or  opposition  of  the  civil  author- 
ity. 

Grades  of  Ministerial  Education.— In  the 
earlier  days  of  Virginia,  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary  was  established  ostensibly  ''  to  edu- 
cate a  domestic  succession  of  Church  of  Eng- 
land ministers,"  as  well  as  to  teach  the  children 
of  the  Indians.  But  for  nearly  a  half  century 
preceding  the  time  of  which  we  write,  the  edu- 
cation of  native  clergymen  was  rather  discour- 


14  The  Separation  of 

aged  than  otherwise.  There  was,  in  truth,  no 
special  inducement  for  pious  young  men  to 
quaHfy  themselves  for  the  sacred  office,  as  so 
many  of  the  ministers  in  the  Established  Church 
in  the  colony  were  from  England.  The  latter 
were  appointed  by  the  Home  Government  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  to 
whose  diocese  the  colonies  were  assigned,  and 
who  ordained  them,  as  there  was  no  bishop  in 
America  till  after  the  Revolution. 

Meanwhile,  the  ''  Dissenters,"  and  notably  the 
Presbyterians,  were  making  strenuous  efforts  to 
educate  young  men  for  the  sacred  office.  Early 
in  the  eighteenth  century  the  latter  established 
schools  to  educate  young  men  for  the  ministry, 
and  persistently  refused  to  license  any  to  preach 
who  had  not  a  classical  and  theological  training, 
knowing  that  the  influence  of  an  educated  min- 
istry must  ever  be  beneficial.  In  1748  it  was 
proposed  in  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia— then  the  highest  judicature  in  the 
Church — to  relax  the  demands  for  the  classical, 
literary,  and  theological  qualifications  of  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry.  This  proposition  was 
voted  down  by  a  large  majority.  Instead  of 
diminishing  the  time  assigned  for  such  prepara- 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      15 

tion,  the  Synod,  as  if  to  be  emphatic,  added  an- 
other year  to  the  prescribed  course  of  study  for 
their  theological  students.  This  same  spirit  as 
much  influences  the  Presbyterians  of  to-day  as 
it  did  those  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago.  They  now  excel  all  others  in  the 
number  of  their  Theological  Seminaries  and  in 
the  richness  of  their  endowments.  This  strict- 
ness in  demanding  a  thoroughly  educated  min- 
istry has  had  a  marked  effect  in  raising  the 
plane  of  general  intelligence  among  the  private 
members  of  their  denomination. 

Says  Benedict,  in  his  History  of  the  Baptists 
of  that  day  in  Virginia  :  "  Their  preachers  were 
without  learning,  without  patronage,  generally 
very  poor,  plain  in  their  dress,  unrefined  in  their 
manners,  and  awkward  in  their  address."  Dr. 
Foote,  when  writing  of  the  same  period  in  his 
sketches  of  Virginia  (p.  375),  says :  though  gen- 
erally without  education,  ''  the  zealous  Baptist 
ministers,  with  all  the  energy  of  excited  spirits 
inflamed  by  their  contemplation  of  Divine  truth 
and  visions  of  the  spiritual  world,"  preached 
and  labored,  and  by  their  fervid  exhortations, 
multitudes  were  brought  to  believe  and  be 
saved.     Dr.  Robert  Baird,  in  his  "  Religion  in 


1 6  The  Separation  of 

America,"  makes  a  similar  statement,  both  as  to 
their  education  and  their  zeal.  The  ministers 
of  this  denomination,  especially  in  the  earlier 
portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  suffered  more 
from  harsh  treatment  than  the  other  preachers. 
Their  comparative  lack  of  education  may  have 
been  the  occasion  of  their  being  treated  so  con- 
temptuously by  the  Establishment  and  the  civil 
authorities.  Oftentimes,  when  imprisoned  for 
proclaiming  the  Gospel  in  'their  way,  they 
preached  to  the  sympathizing  people  from  the 
grated  windows  of  the  jails  in  which  they  were 
confined.  Let  their  unflinching  Christian  zeal 
and  self-denial  be  honored  and  emulated  ! 

Severe  Conflicts— The  Act  of  Toleration. — 
Previous  to  the  time  of  which  we  write  occurred 
many  struggles  between  the  ''  Dissenters  "  and 
the  civil  authorities,  because  of  the  intolerance 
of  the  latter.  These  controversies  continued 
for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century,  and,  by  elic- 
iting discussion,  prepared  the  minds  of  intelli- 
gent people  for  the  grand  result — the  separation 
of  Church  and  State.  In  Hanover  County — 
"  the  birthplace  of  Presbyterianism  in  Eastern 
Virginia" — were  several  churches  of  that  de- 
nomination, and  here  labored  and  preached  the 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.       1 7 

celebrated  Samuel  Efavies.  His  ministrations 
were  interfered  with  by  the  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil ;  they  being  urged  on  by  the  clergy  of  the 
Establishment.  On  one  occasion  the  matter 
came  before  the  General  Court ;  when  Davies 
argued  with  great  force  and  eloquence  in  oppo- 
sition to  Peyton  Randolph,  the  King's  Attorney. 
Davies  contended  that  the  English  "Act  of  Tol- 
eration "  applied  to  the  relief  of  "Dissenters" 
in  Virginia,  as  well  as  to  the  same  class  in  Eng- 
land. He  won,  by  his  eloquence  and  learned 
arguments  in  favor  of  religious  freedom,  the  ad- 
miration of  the  better  portion  of  his  opponents, 
who  complimented  him  by  saying  he  "  was  a 
good  lawyer  spoiled."  The  Presbyterians  de- 
termined to  test  the  question  further,  and  when 
Davies  afterward  went  to  England  to  solicit 
funds  for  Princeton  College,  they  authorized 
him  to  bring  the  case  before  the  King  in  Coun- 
cil. He  did  so,  and  obtained  the  decision  that 
the  "Act  of  Toleration  "  did  apply  to  the  colony 
of  Virginia  (1748).  In  consequence  of  this  de- 
cision, the  General  Court  of  the  colony  permit- 
ted the  Presbyterians  to  establish  three  new 
places  for  preaching.  These  church  buildings 
were  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  apart.     Under  the 


1 8  The  Separation  of 

circumstances,  this  concession  was  an  immense 
gain,  and  it  was  obtained  by  the  perseverance 
and  learning  of  the  ministers  belonging  to  the 
Hanover  Presbytery.  The  other  denominations 
— Baptists  and  Quakers — were  deeply  interested 
and  did  all  they  could  to  promote  the  cause  of 
religious  toleration  by  petitions,  but  the  Pres- 
byterians had  the  boldness  to  demand  religious 
freedom  as  a  natural  rights  and  to  argue  the 
question  before  the  civil  courts,  or  with  the 
Legislature,  and,  after  a  long  struggle,  secured 
the  ultimate  result  in  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State.  This  was  the  legitimate  effect  of 
their  being  able  to  enforce  their  own  arguments 
and  refute  those  of  their  opponents. 

Efforts  to  reform  Clerical  Morals. — In  no 
country  where  the  union  of  Church  and  State 
existed,  did  the  civil  authorities  ever  appear  to 
have  clear  conceptions  of  that  religious  liberty 
which  arises  from  the  spiritual  condition  of  man. 
The  magistrates,  from  their  official  acts,  seem 
to  have  had  only  a  dim  perception  of  that  all- 
important  qualification  of  a  preacher  of  the 
Gospel — a  change  of  heart,  or  to  be  a  Christian. 
It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  the  main 
cause  of  this  has  been  that  they,  themselves, 


Church  and  State  hi    Virginia.      19 

for  the  most  part,  were,  individually,  strangers 
to  spiritual  religion.  No  matter  how  pure  in 
their  private  life,  and  evangelical  in  doctrine 
preachers  were,  these  essential  qualifications 
were  oftentimes  unrecognized  by  the  secular 
rulers  in  appointing  them  to  parishes.  -The 
prevalence  of  these  deficiencies  was  one  of  the 
objections  alleged  against  the  clergy  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church  in  Virginia  at  a  much  earlier 
period  than  that  of  which  we  write.  Sir  Will- 
iam Berkeley — that  staunch  churchman— com- 
plained, nearly  a  century  before  the  final  strug- 
gle began,  when  writing  of  the  clergy,  that  "  as 
of  all  commodities  so  of  this — the  worst  are 
sent  us — and  we  have  few  that  we  can  boast 
of."  The  Legislature  of  Virginia  found  it  nec- 
essary to  prescribe  by  law  certain  negative 
qualifications  of  a  minister  of  the  Established 
Church.  "  He  was  not  to  give  himself  to  ex- 
cess in  drinking  or  riot,  and  spending  his  time 
idly  by  day  or  night ;  but  to  hear  or  read  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  catechise  the  children,  and 
visit  the  sick."  A  writer  states  that  "  many 
clergymen  of  profligate  lives  had  found  a  home 
in  these  unfortunate  colonies,  and  found  im- 
punity in  crime  from  the  want  of  a  power  able 


20  The  Separation  of 

to  correct  them."  These  evils  were  so  glaring, 
that  it  was  assumed  that  those  sent  to  the  colo- 
nies as  clergymen  were  not  exemplary  Chris- 
tians, and  the  evil  was  not  limited  to  Virginia, 
as  it  was  enjoined  that  "  on  the  arrival  of  any 
ship  in  the  waters  of  Maryland,  the  nearest  cler- 
gyman (of  the  church)  was  to  make  inquiry 
whether  any  minister  was  on  board,  and,  if  so, 
what  his  demeanor  had  been  upon  the  voyage." 
The  clergy  themselves  complain  (1755)  that  "so 
few  from  the  two  Universities  (Oxford  and 
Cambridge)  came  to  the  colony,"  and  that  "  so 
many  who  are  a  disgrace  to  the  ministry  find 
opportunities  to  fill  parishes  "  (Dr.  Hawks,  vol. 
/.,  /.  117,  and  vol.  ii.,  pp.  80-101).  At  a  still 
later  day  it  was  charged  that  "  these  gentlemen 
clergy  spent  much  of  their  time  fox-hunting  and 
aping  the  sports  of  the  aristocracy  at  home,  and 
in  company  with  the  more  dissolute  of  their 
parishioners."  Says  Bishop  Meade  {vol.  i,,  p. 
10)  :  "  It  is  a  well-established  fact,  that  some 
who  were  discarded  from  the  English  Church 
yet  obtained  livings  in  Virginia."  As  these 
ministers  were  appointed  by  the  civil  govern- 
ment, their  theological  education  and  their  moral 
worth  were  not  scrutinized  as  they  should  have 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      21 

been.  These  deficiencies  had  much  influence 
in  forming  a  sentiment  by  no.  means  favorable 
to  the  clergy  of  the  Establishment  in  the  minds 
of  the  truly  religious,  not  only  among  "  Dis- 
senters," but  among  the  same  class  of  church- 
men themselves  ;  and  a  tacit  protest  existed 
against  a  system  that  permitted  men  of  such 
character  to  enter  upon  the  sacred  ofifice.  It 
must  not  be  inferred  from  these  statements 
that  there  were  no  excellent  Christian  men  in 
the  Establishment,  who  labored  faithfully  in 
their  parochial  duties  ;  especially  could  this  be 
said  of  the  native-born. 

It  has  been  charged  that  on  the  part  of  the 
"  Dissenters  "  there  was  an  unwarranted  hostility 
toward  the  Establishment.  The  Presbyterians 
found  no  fault  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
of  England  as  set  forth  in  her  Articles,  nor  did 
they  with  her  mode  of  worship  or  government, 
as  her  own  members  preferred.  They  demanded 
for  themselves  the  same  religious  privileges  that 
they  were  willing  to  concede  to  other  denomina- 
tions, but  they  denied  most  emphatically  the 
right  of  a  Legislature  to  interfere,  in  any  man- 
ner whatever,  with  ''  the  spiritual  concerns  of 
religion."    Said  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies:  ''Had 


2  2  The  Separation  of 

the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  been  solemnly  and 
faithfully  preached  in  the  Established  Church,  I 
am  persuaded  there  would  have  been  few  '  Dis- 
•senters '  in  these  parts  of  Virginia,  for  their  first 
(main)  objections  were  not  against  her  peculiar 
rites  and  ceremonies,  and  much  less  against  her 
excellent  Articles." 

Preachers  appointed  by  the  Crown. — It  was 
a  grievance  of  which  intelligent  Christian  church- 
men themselves  complained,  that  their  preach- 
ers were  appointed  by  the  Crown  without  refer- 
ence to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  the  parish. 
In  Virginia  and  Maryland  the  vestries  might 
present  or  recommend  a  preacher  who  had  not 
been  thus  appointed,  but  even  then  the  Gov- 
ernor had  the  absolute  right  of  inducting  or  put- 
ting him  in  actual  possession.  Under  the  more 
liberal  system  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State 
in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  the  churches 
were  built  where  needed  and  the  money  raised 
from  the  whole  people  of  the  town  or  district, 
who  voted  the  amount  and  taxed  themselves  to 
pay  it.  The  minister  was  chosen  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  and  in  consequence  he  was 
acceptable  to  the  majority,  and  if  not,  he  could 
be  changed  for  another;  but,  as  a  general  rule. 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia,      23 

he  remained  for  life  or  during  a  long  pastorate. 
This  was  quite  in  contrast  with  the  arbitrary 
system  that  obtained  in  Virginia  and  Maryland. 
The  English  Church  Established— When  ? 
— The  Church  of  England  was  established  in  Ma- 
ryland by  the  act  of  King  William  in  1691,  and 
in  North  Carolina  fifteen  years  later ;  the  popu- 
lation being  composed  of  ''  Presbyterians,  Inde- 
pendents, Quakers,  and  other  evil-disposed  per- 
sons." This,  it  was  said,  was  accomplished  by  a 
Legislature  illegally  chosen.  The  taxes  imposed 
in  consequence  roused  a  bitter  feeling  in  the 
minds  of  the  ''  Dissenters,"  who  by  the  same 
Legislature  were  deprived  of  many  of  their  civil 
rights ;  the  latter  were  not  recovered  until  the 
close  of  the  Revolution.  The  same  Church  was 
established  in  South  Carolina  in  1704  by  a  ma- 
jority of  one  vote  in  the  Legislature,  while  two- 
thirds  of  the  population  were  "  Dissenters." 
Meanwhile  it  had  been  established  in  the  colony 
of  New  York  (1693),  and  was  supported  by  taxes 
from  all  the  people  in  proportion  to  their  wealth, 
though  seven-tenths  of  them  were  not  in^sympa^ 
thy  with  the  favored  denomination.  In  New 
Jersey  special  favor  was  asked  for  the  Church 
of  England,  but  was  never  fully  granted,  and  in 


24  The  Separation  of 

this  anomalous  condition  it  remained  till  the 
Revolution.  There  was  never  any  union  of 
Church  and  State  in  Pennsylvania.  This  free- 
dom from  annoyance  may  account  somewhat 
for  the  rapid  progress  made  in  the  growth  of 
Presbyterian  ism  in  these  two  colonies. 

Influence  of  an  Educated  Ministry. — The 
comparatively  superior  education  of  the  Presby- 
terian ministers  gave  them  a  commanding  influ- 
ence in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  as  well  as 
in  Virginia  and  in  the  Carolinas.  Their  zeal  and 
name  were  identified  with  the  movements  lead- 
ing to  more  religious  freedom,  particularly  dur- 
ing the  period  from  the  close  of  the  French  war 
(1763)  till  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution. 
For  years  they  had  been  ardently  inculcating 
these  principles  in  the  back  counties  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  and,  in  the  end,  prepared 
the  minds  of  their  hearers  to  issue  the  famed 
Mecklenburg  Declaration  (May  11,  1775).  In 
the  convention  which  issued  it  were  several 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  elders.  This  influ- 
ence had  already  been  recognized  in  England, 
and  the  threat  was  often  made  by  the  ''  Church 
party "  that  "  Bishops  should  be  settled  in 
America  in  spite  of  all  the  Presbyterian  oppo- 


CJiMrch  and  State  i7i   Virginia.      25 

sition."  The  objections  of  the  latter,  as  often 
explained,  were  not  against  bishops  in  their 
spiritual  character,  but  in  the  temporal  power 
inherent  in  an  Established  Church,  as  then  ex- 
isting in  England  and  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  They  believed  that  civil  and  religious 
liberty  should  go  hand  in  hand,  but  saw  the 
reverse  of  this  in  ''  Lords  spiritual,"  being 
supported  to  a  great  extent  by  the  hard  earn- 
ings of  those  who  did  not  sympathize  with 
the  ritual  and  doctrines  of  the  Established 
Church. 

Conflicts  in  respect  to  Salaries. — During 
this  period  there  were  frequent  contentions  be- 
tween the  Virginia  Assembly  and  the  clergy  of 
the  Establishment  in  respect  to  the  latter's 
salaries  and  their  payment.  This  unseemly  con- 
test alienated  more  or  less  the  public  sympathy 
from  the  latter.  A  law  of  Maryland  demanded 
a  poll-tax  of  ''  forty  pounds  of  tobacco  "  for  the 
benefit  of  the  clergy,  but  did  not  specify  the 
quality  of  the  article  in  which  it  was  to  be  paid. 
Many  of  the  planters  manifested  their  view  of 
the  justice  of  the  law  by  furnishing  the  full 
weight,  but  of  a  villainous  quality  of  tobacco. 
One  of  these  contests  in  Virginia  was  the  famous 


26  The  Separation  of 

"Parson's  case,"   1763,  in  which  Patrick  Henry- 
performed  a  part  so  important. 

A  Great  Principle  Established. — In  the 
earlier  colonial  days  the  "  Dissenters  "  contented 
themselves  with  protesting  against  the  infringe- 
ment of  their  rights  as  citizens  and  the  burdens 
imposed  upon  them  in  the  form  of  tithes  or 
taxes  by  the  colonial  authorities,  oftentimes,  as 
they  believed,  at  the  instigation  of  the  clergy 
of  the  Established  Church.  The  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  and  Quakers  all  chafed  under  this 
tyranny,  that  compelled  them  to  aid  in  support- 
ing a  Church  whose  system  they  did  not  ap- 
prove. These  annoyances — many  oT  them  by 
no  means  petty — led  finally  to  one  of  the  most 
interesting  episodes  in  our  history ;  the  struggle 
to  separate  Church  and  State  in  Virginia.  This 
contest  really  lasted  about  twelve  years,  from 
1773  to  1786,  covering  more  than  the  entire 
period  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  within 
one  year  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  Owing  to  the  stirring  times 
of  which  it  was  contemporary,  this  remarkable 
movement  has  been  overshadowed  and  has  not 
received  the  attention  which  its  importance  de- 
serves.     To  establish  the  principle  of  supporting 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      27 

the  Gospel  hy  the  voluntary  contributions  of  its 
own  friends,  was  as  unique  in  sustaining  the 
Church  as  two  years  afterward,  was  the  anomaly 
in  history  of  founding  a  Republic  co^nposed  of 
States  ifidependent  in  the  adnmiistration  of  their 
own  affairs,  and  yet  under  a  united  National 
Government.  In  each  case  it  was  the  application 
^f  great  principles,  and  both  have  been  equally 
successful. 

The  Struggle  begins — The  Memorial. — 
This  contest  assumed  tangible  form  in  October, 
1776,  though  three  years  before  the  Presbytery 
of  Hanovuer  began  the  agitation  in  respect  to 
church  privileges  or  religious  rights  by  appoint- 
mg  commissioners  to  lay  the  matter  before  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  but  "nothing  was  done  in 
the  Assembly  that  year  to  remedy  the  disabili- 
ties of  '■  Dissenters.'  "  The  commissioners  took 
action  on  the  subject  during  the  two  following 
years,  but  with  a  similar  result.  The  Presby- 
terians were  thus  the  first  in  taking  measures  to 
secure  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  nor 
did  they  desist  till  the  end  was  accomplished 
twelve  years  afterward. 

When  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
made,  the  ground  was  changed,  and,  at  the  first 


2S  The  Separation  of 

meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  after  July 
4,  1776,  that  body  memorialized  the  Legislature 
or  House  of  Assembly  to  dissolve  the  union  of 
Church  and  State,  and  thus  leave  the  support  of 
the  Gospel  to  its  own  friends.  This  memorial 
discussed  the  principles  on  which  they  demanded 
the  separation.  Their  arguments  were  not  suc- 
cessfully controverted,  and  their  cogency  in  the 
end  compelled  the  Assembly  to  comply  with 
the  demand.  The  Memorial  showed  that  such 
union  conflicted  with  the  Declaration  of  Rights, 
on  which,  as  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  Common- 
wealth, all  the  privileges  and  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple, both  civil  and  religious,  depend ;  that  in  the 
frontier  counties  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah, in  which  region  were  very  few  Episcopa- 
lians to  aid  in  bearing  the  expense,  those  not  in 
communion  with  the  Establishment  were  com- 
pelled by  law  to  bear  heavy  burdens  in  building 
church  edifices  and  rectories,  purchasing  glebes, 
and  in  supporting  the  Established  clergy.  As 
all  \\\&  colonists  were  now  engaged  in  a  contest 
with  the  mother  country  on  account  of  infringe- 
ments of  their  rights,  it  was  inconsistent  that  all 
the  people  should  not  be  protected  in  the  free- 
dom of  conscience.     They  expected  their  repre- 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      29 

sentatives  in  the  House  of  Assembly  to  remove 
every  species  of  religious  and  civil  bondage. 
They  argued  that  this  oppression  retarded  im- 
migration to  Virginia,  and  also  the  progress  of 
the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  State  and  of  its 
manufactures.  In  proof  of  this  statement  they 
instanced  the  rapid  growth  and  improvement  of 
the  Northern  colonies  compared  with  Virginia, 
and  at  the  same  time  directing  the  attention  of 
the  Assembly  to  the  many  advantages  of  soil 
and  climate  of  the  latter,  yet  men  refused  to 
migrate  to  a  colony  where  they  could  not  enjoy 
the  rights  of  conscience. 

They  argued  that  the  Gospel  asked  the  sup- 
port of  only  its  own  adherents,  and  did  not  in 
that  respect  need  the  secular  aid  ;  that  Christi- 
anity would  prevail  and  flourish  by  its  own  mer- 
its under  an  all-prevailing  Providence.  They 
did  not  ask  ecclesiastical  establishments  for 
themselves,  nor  did  they  think  them  desirable 
for  others,  as  such  must  of  necessity  be  partial, 
and  in  the  main  injurious  to  the  people  at  large. 
They  demanded  that  every  law  that  counten- 
anced religious  domination  should  be  immedi- 
ately repealed  ;  that  every  religious  sect  should 
be  protected  in  the  full  exercise  of  its  mode  of 


30  The  Separation  of 

worship ;  that  all  invidious  distinctions  in  re- 
spect to  religious  denominations  should  be 
abolished,  and  every  person  be  free  to  support 
any  one  he  chose  by  his  voluntary  gifts.  Such 
were  the  sentiments  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover 
advanced  on  the  subject  of  religious  freedom ; 
their  arguments  cover  the  whole  ground,  enunci- 
ating the  principles  held  and  practiced  to-day  as 
truisms  throughout  the  Union. 

Committee  on  Religion  and  Morality. — With 
other  petitions  on  the  subject,  this  memorial  was 
referred  to  a  committee  on  religion  and  morality ; 
of  this  committee  Thomas  Jefferson  was  chair- 
man. As  evidence  of  the  difficulties  with  which 
the  memorialists  had  to  contend,  and  how  little 
the  members  of  that  Assembly  appreciated  their 
true  relation  to  the  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  may 
be  cited  the  following  resolution  passed  Novem- 
ber 19,  1776,  "That  provision  should  be  made 
for  the  continuing  the  succession  of  the  clergy 
[of  the  Establishment]  and  for  superintending 
their  conduct "  {RandalVs  "  Life  of  Jeffersoit,'' 
vol.  i.,  p.  205).  This  resolution,  designed  to  fore- 
stall or  control  action  on  the  subject,  was  passed 
after  the  petitions  and  memorial  had  been  re- 
ceived and  referred  by  the  Assembly  to  the  com- 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      31 

mittee,  and  on  which  the  latter  had  not  yet  re- 
ported. 

The  Petitions — The  Demand  as  a  Right. — 
The  year  before  (1775)  the  Baptists  petitioned 
the  Assembly,  "  That  they  might  be  allowed  to 
worship  God  in  their  own  way  without  inter- 
ruption ;  to  maintain  their  own  ministers  sepa- 
rate from  others,  and  to  be  married  and  buried 
without  paying  the  clergy  of  other  denomina- 
tions,"— meaning  of  the  Establishment — {Dr. 
Baird,  p.  219).  The  Quakers  also  petitioned  to 
the  same  effect.  The  Presbyterians  took  higher 
ground  ;  that  it  was  their  right  to  do  this.  They 
did  not  ask  for  a  similar  permission,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  demanded  that  mt  end  be  put  to  the  as- 
sumption of  any  stich  authority  in  the  Legislature 
by  dissolving  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  The 
struggle  did  not  soon  end.  The  Episcopalians 
presented  counter-memorials  and  so  did  the 
Methodists,  who  in  that  day  deemed  themselves 
in  a  measure  allied  to  the  Church  of  England, 
and  were  known  as  the  Wesleyan  Connection. 
When  the  Revolutionary  contest  began  great 
numbers  of  the  Church  of  England  clergymen, 
who  had  come  from  England,  went  back  to  that 
country  and  left  their  parishes  vacant.     These 


32  The  Separation  of 

parishes  in  large  numbers  were  filled  by  Meth- 
odist ministers  ;  the  latter  falling  heir  in  a  meas- 
ure to  the  emoluments  of  the  parishes.  The 
Methodists  maintained  that  the  State  violated 
its  pledges  given  in  the  early  days  of  the  colony 
to  the  Established  Church,  and  that  its' claims 
were  in  the  form  of  a  vested  right.  In  truth 
they  never  were  "  Dissenters  ";  on  the  contrary, 
their  sympathies  and  Church  interests  were  with 
the  Establishment ;  while  their  ministers  in  Vir- 
ginia, during  this  struggle,  were  for  the  most 
part  Englishmen.  These  were  sent  first  (about 
1770)  by  the  London  Conference,  America  being 
constituted  on  that  occasion  as  th^  fiftieth  cir- 
cuit. {Dr.  Stevens  ^^Hist.  of  MetJiodism!'  vol.  i.^ 
p.  442). 

Upon  whom  fell  the  Burden  of  the  Conflict, 
— The  brunt  of  this  conflict  fell  upon  the  min- 
isters and  laymen  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
As  preachers  and  exhorters  the  Baptists  were 
very  successful,  but  it  required  better-educated 
men  to  cope  with  the  lawyers  and  statesmen  in 
the  Virginia  Assembly,  and  to  repel  the  argu- 
ments for  the  continuance  of  the  union  of 
Church  and  State.  ''The  Baptists,"  says  Dr. 
Hawks,   "though  not  to  be  outdone   in   zeal, 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.     33 

were  far  surpassed  in  ability  by  the  Presbyteri- 
ans. The  latter's  ablest  memorials  came  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  "  {vol.  /.,  /.  140).  To 
sustain  their  views  the  Church  advocates  pointed 
to  the  history  of  such  union  as  existing  from 
Constantine  onward,  while  the  prospective  good 
effects  of  a  separation  were  at  best  only  a  con- 
jecture, as  the  experiment  had  never  been  tried, 
while  the  arguments  in  respect  to  the  injurious 
moral  influence  of  appointing  improper  men 
rectors  of  parishes,  had  but  little  influence  with 
the  Legislature. 

The  attempt  to  support  the  ordinances  of  the 
Gospel  by  voluntary-  contributions  of  its  own 
well-wishers,  appeared  to  the  members  of  the 
Assembly  visionary  in  the  extreme,  especially 
as  the  '^  Dissenters"  in  comparison  were  poor 
indeed.  The  wealthy  land  and  slave  holders 
belonged  almost  entirely  to  the  Established 
Church,  and  from  this  class  a  large  majority  of 
the  members  of  the  Legislature  were  chosen. 
"The  Establishment,"  says  Jefferson,  "was 
truly  of  the  religion  of  the  rich,  the  dissenting 
sects  being  entirely  composed  of  the  less 
wealthy  people."  And  again,  "  Although  two- 
thirds  of  our  citizens  were  '  Dissenters,*  a  ma- 


34  The  Sepm^ation  of 

jority  of  the  Legislature  were  churchmen." 
"Among  these,  however,  were  some  reasonable 
and  liberal  men,  who  enabled  us  on  some  points 
to  obtain  feeble  majorities."  "  A  majority  of 
the  inhabitants  were  obliged  by  law  to  pay  con- 
tributions to  support  the  pastors  of  the  minor- 
ity. This  unrighteous  compulsion  was  grievous- 
ly felt  during  the  royal  government  when  there* 
was  no  hope  of  relief." 

The  Legislature  met  on  its  own  Ground. — 
The  advocates  of  the  system  in  the  Assembly 
were  met  on  their  own  ground  by  Presbyterian 
clergymen,  who,  by  their  superior  knowledge  of 
the  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  won  their  cause, 
and  the  influence  of  that  example  banished  the 
system  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  from 
the  land.  One  of  the  positions  honestly  taken 
by  good  men,  was  that  injury  would  be  done 
the  cause  of  religion  ;  they  assumed  that  unless 
aided  by  the  State  the  Church  would  languish 
and  fail  because  of  insufilcient  support.  On  the 
contrary,  the  opponents  of  the  system  argued 
that  the  true  friends  of  a  pure  Gospel  would,  as 
a  matter  of  duty,  support  the  Church ;  and 
moreover,  there  would  not  be  so  much  in- 
ducement for  those  who  were  not  governed  by 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.     35 

the  genuine  principles  of  religion  to  connect 
themselves  with  the  Church — this  would  be  a 
great  gain.  The  arguments  for  the  continuance 
of  the  system  had  greater  weight  then  than  they 
would  have  to-day,  since  the  results  of  voluntary 
contributions  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel  and 
its  ordinances  have  proved  their  fallacy  ;  as  well 
as  the  remarkable  development  of  the  principle 
of  personal  responsibility  in  its  influence  upon 
individual  Christians  in  making  them  more  be- 
nevolent and  more  zealous  in  aiding  the  cause 
of  religion.  This  principle  now  pervades  the 
minds  of  American  Christians  to  an  extent  im- 
possible under  a  system  of  the  union  of  Church 
and  State,  where  the  responsibility  of  support- 
ing the  Gospel  is  shared  between  its  friends  and 
the  world  at  large,  or  State. 

Objectionable  Laws  partially  repealed. — On 
the  5th  of  December,  1776,  an  act  was  passed  by 
the  Assembly  which  repealed  the  laws  making 
it  an  offence  to  hold  any  particular  religious 
opinions,  and  also  removing  the  penalties  in- 
flicted upon  those  who  did  not  attend  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Established  Church  or  worshiped  else- 
where. This  act,  though  imperfect,  virtually 
dissolved  the  union  between  Church  and  State, 


36  The  Sepai^ation  of 

by  repealing  all  former  laws  relating  to  that 
union;  it  also  exempted  '^  Dissenters "  from 
contributing  to  the  support  of  that  Church,  but 
left  the  latter  in  possession  of  all  the  wealth  it 
had  acquired  by  taxation  in  the  past  —  this 
wealth  consisted  mostly  in  glebes,  parsonages, 
and  church  edifices. 

The  following  is  the  text  of  the  bill :  "  We  the 
General  Assembly  do  enact :  That  no  man  shall 
be  compelled  to  frequent  or  support  any  re- 
ligious worship,  place,  or  ministry  whatsoever, 
nor  shall  be  enforced,  restrained,  molested,  or 
burthened  in  his  body  or  goods,  nor  shall  other- 
wise suffer  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions 
or  belief;  but  that  all  men  shall  be  free  to  pro- 
fess, and  by  argument  to  maintain,  their  opinions 
in  matters  of  religion,  and  that  the  same  shall 
in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  their  civil 
capacities." 

In  relation  to  minor  points  the  contest  con- 
tinued, and  the  bill  for  the  separation  did  not 
go  fully  into  effect  till  ten  years  afterward  (1786) ; 
Jefferson  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in 
1776,  and  chairman  of  the  committee  when  this 
partial  repeal  was  made.  During  the  two  years 
following  many  memorials  or  petitions  were  pre- 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia,     2)1 

sented  by  both  parties  to  the  Assembly  ;  some 
of  these  asked  for  a  general  assessment  or  tax 
for  the  benefit  of  all  denominations,  and  some 
in  opposition  ;  while  other  petitioners  stepped 
back  a  century  and  asked  that  the  "  sectaries  " 
be  prohibited  from  holding  meetings,  and  none 
but  "  licensed  preachers  "  (meaning  of  the  Estab- 
lishment) be  permitted  to  conduct  public  wor- 
ship. 

Prejudices  roused — Tories — Whigs — Quak- 
ers.— After  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  a  strong  prejudice  was  roused  against 
the  Established  clergy,  as  the  great  majority  of 
them  were  ardent  Loyalists,  or  ''  Tories  ";  the 
Presbyterians  and  Baptists  were  even  more 
ardently  "Whigs"  —  their  ministers  preached 
with  great  zeal  the  doctrine  of  resistance  to 
tyrants.  The  Quakers  were,  for  the  greater 
part,  from  principle  opposed  to  war  in  any 
form,  and  thus  they  were  often  misjudged  as  to 
their  motives.  Under  the  circumstances,  which 
we  of  to-day  cannot  fully  appreciate,  it  was  not 
strange  that  so  many  of  the  clergy  were  Tories; 
the  traditions  of  that  Church  were  in  favor  of 
royalty,  and,  moreover,  a  large  majority  were 
Englishmen  by  birth.     Unfortunately  they  in- 


38  The  Separatio7i  of 

fluenced  their  parishioners  almost  as  much  in 
favor  of  royalty  as  the  dissenting  pastors  did 
their  flocks  in  favor  of  liberty. 

The  General  Assessment — Another  Memo- 
rial.— The  advocates  for  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  did  not  relax  their  efforts  to  retain 
the  secular  advantages  which  the  Establishment 
had  already,  but  earnestly  contended  to  secure 
emoluments,  however  small.  First  the  attempt 
was  made  to  have  a  general  assessment  of  taxes 
to  support  all  the  denominations  alike.  The 
Baptists  and  Quakers  as  well  as  the  Presbyteri- 
ans opposed  this  system ;  the  latter  especially, 
on  the  ground  that  aid  for  the  Gospel  in  that 
form  was  injurious  to  spiritual  religion.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  came  for- 
ward with  another  of  their  well-reasoned  memo- 
rials (1778);  and  after  courteously  thanking  the 
Assembly  for  what  they  had  done  in  repealing 
some  of  the  offensive  and  illiberal  laws,  they 
proceeded  to  oppose  the  ''  plan  of  a  general  as- 
sessment." They  argued  that  the  only  proper 
object  of  civil  government  was  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  the  people  by  protecting  them  as 
citizens  in  their  rights ;  to  restrain  the  vicious 
by  wholesome  laws  and  encourage  the  virtuous 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      39 

by  the  same  means ;  that  the  obligations  which 
men  owe  their  Creator  are  not  a  proper  subject 
of  human  legislation,  and  the  worship  of  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience  was  an 
inalienable  right.  "  Neither  does  the  Church  of 
Christ  stand  in  need  of  a  general  assessment  for 
its  support ;  and  most  certain  we  are  persuaded 
that  it  would  be  no  advantage,  but  an  injury  to 
the  society  to  which  we  belong ;  and  we  believe 
that  Christ  has  ordained  a  complete  system  of 
laws  for  the  government  of  His  kingdom,  so  we 
are  persuaded  that  by  His  providence,  He  will 
support  its  final  consummation."  This  memo- 
rial was  also  seconded  by  the  urgent  protests  of 
the  Baptists ;  the  result  was  that  the  following 
year  the  proposed  plan  of  general  assessment 
was  abandoned  for  the  time  being.  We,  to-day, 
take  for  granted  the  principles  here  enunciated, 
they  having  been  so  thoroughly  discussed,  while 
experience  has  as  clearly  proved  their  soundness 
and  utility.  These  Christian  men  were  fully 
convinced  that  the  effect  of  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  was,  for  many  reasons,  injurious  to 
spiritual  religion.  Many  of  these  legislators, 
though  they  talked  so  learnedly,  were  unable 
to  appreciate  the  question  in  its  spiritual  bear- 


40  The  Separatio7i  of 

ings,  and  for  this  reason  alone,  the  authors  of 
these  memorials  never  urged  to  much  extent 
the  arguments  derived  from  this  phase  of  the 
subject,  but  judiciously  waived  them,  although 
they  were  so  convincing  to  themselves,  and  to 
the  Church  members  whom  they  represented. 

Defects  in  the  Act  of  Repeal. — It  was  only 
in  general  terms  that  the  law  of  December,  1776, 
dissolved  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  and 
the  clergy  of  the  former  "  still  retained  the 
glebes — the  lands  belonging  to  the  parishes — 
and  also  claimed  the  right  of  performing  mar- 
riage ceremonies  with  the  accustomed  fees.'* 
Therefore  the  Assembly  found  it  necessary  (1780) 
to  enact :  ''  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for 
any  minister  of  any  society  or  congregation  of 
Christians  to  celebrate  the  rites  of  matrimony, 
and  such  marriage,  as  well  as  those  hereafter 
celebrated  by  dissenting  ministers,  shall  be  and 
are  hereby  declared  good  and  valid  in  law." 
Yet  under  this  law  the  Episcopal  clergy  were, 
ex  officio,  authorized  to  celebrate  marriages 
throughout  the  State,  while  the  ministers  of 
other  denominations  had  to  obtain  a  license^ 
and  in  addition,  were  limited  to  certain  districts 
or  counties.     In  answer  to  this  insulting  legisla- 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.     41 

tion,  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  came  forward 
with  a  carefully  prepared  argument  covering  the 
whole  ground  of  controversy,  in  which  the 
wrong  of  the  law  in  relation  to  performing  the 
rites  of  matrimony  was  thoroughly  discussed 
and  shown.  In  due  time  the  law  was  so  modi- 
fied as  to  be  virtually  repealed. 

Security  of  Religious  Rights  demanded. — 
The  Presbytery  also  complained  that  "the 
security  of  religious  rights  was  left  to  the  pre- 
carious fate  of  common  law,  instead  of  being 
made  a  fundamental  part  of  our  Constitution  as 
it  ought  to  beT  They  likewise  complained  that 
the  Episcopal  Church  was  the  only  one  incor- 
porated and  could  hold  property,  while  all  other 
denominations  "  were  obliged  to  trust  to  the  pre- 
carious fidelity  of  trustees  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose," and  they,  asking  nothing  for  themselves, 
demanded  that  these  inequalities  in  the  treat- 
ment of  Christian  denominations  should  be 
removed.  The  Assembly  continued  from  year 
to  year  to  suspend  Church  levies ;  this  policy 
necessitated  continual  watchfulness  on  the  part 
of  the  *'  Dissenters,"  till  in  the  latter  part  of  1779 
these  levies  were  abolished ;  but  this  action  was 
not  acquiesced  in  sincerely,  for  after  the  return 


42  The  Separation  of 

of  peace  the  Virginia  Assembly  again  attempted 
legislation  (1784)  on  the  subject;  the  intention 
now  being  to  incorporate  ''  all  Societies  of  the 
Christian  religion,  which  may  apply  for  the 
same."  The  reason  for  this  apparent  liberality 
cropped  out  when  to  the  bill  was  added  an 
amendment  authorizing  a  general  assessment  "  to 
establish  a  provision  for  the  teachers  of  the 
Christian  religion."  The  Hanover  Presbytery 
took  measures  to  oppose  this  renewal  of  that 
project ;  but  meanwhile,  though  secretly,  its 
friends  had  been  so  active  that  it  was  appre- 
hended it  would  pass  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts 
in  opposition.  The  question  was  now  in  a  new 
form,  and  in  it  was  a  temptation.  As  all  would 
receive  aid  from  the  public  funds,  and  the  ex- 
periment of  voluntary  support  might  possibly 
result  in  failure,  it  was  not  strange  that  a  few 
Presbyterian  ministers  for  a  time  wavered,  but 
in  the  end  they  came  back  with  still  greater 
force  to  their  former  convictions  of  the  truth, 
that  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel  ought  to  be 
supported  as  a  matter  of  Christian  duty  by  its 
own  adherents,  who  should  in  this  action  be  free 
and  untrammeled  by  any  secular  or  legislative 
influence  whatever. 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia,      43 

Protest  against  Incorporating  the  Episco- 
pal Church. — Consistent  with  the  original  move- 
ment was  another.  A  bill  was  brought  forward 
in  the  Assembly  to  incorporate  the  "  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church " — the  name  assumed  after 
the  close  of  the  Revolution.  This  measure  was 
designed  to  secure  to  that  Church  the  absolute 
ownership  of  all  the  glebe-lands  and  the  build- 
ings thereon  erected — all  obtained  at  the  public 
expense  by  taxation.  The  persistent  Presbytery 
of  Hanover  appeared  again  before  the  Legisla- 
ture in  opposition  to  this  revived  measure  with 
its  still  more  objectionable  features.  The  cele- 
brated Dr.  John  Blair  Smith,  who  at  one  time 
was  inclined  to  favor  the  "  general  assessment," 
was  heard  at  the  bar  of  the  House  in  an  ex- 
haustive argument  in  opposition  to  the  enact- 
ment of  the  bill.  He  continued  his  address  for 
three  days ;  in  which  the  whole  subject  was  so 
thoroughly  discussed,  and  the  evil  effects  of  the 
proposed  law  were  so  clearly  pointed  out,  that 
the  scheme  was  abandoned  forever. 

The  General  Assessment  again. — The  Pres- 
bytery took  high  ground,  saying :  ''  We  hope 
that  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  point  out  arti- 
cles of  faith,  or  to  settle  modes  of  worship,  or  to 


44  1^^^^  Separation  of 

interfere  in  the  internal  government  of  religious 
communities,  or  to  render  the  ministers  of  relig- 
ion in-dependent  of  the  will  of  the  people  whom  they 
server  Again,  that  body  protested  (August, 
1785)  against  "the  incorporation  of  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church,"  so  far  as  to  secure  to  that 
Church  ''  properties  procured  at  the  expense  of 
the  whole  community."  The  truth  is,  that  in 
this  controversy,  lasting  for  nine  years,  the  As- 
sembly having  a  majority  of  its  members  church- 
men, did  not  keep  faith  with  their  opponents 
outside  that  denomination.  From  their  point 
of  view  they  thought  the  ordinances  of  the  Gos- 
pel would  be  unsupported  and  Christianity  crip- 
pled in  its  influence.  They  had  never  fully  real- 
ized as  individuals  their  personal  responsibility 
in  the  duty  of  supporting  the  Gospel,  as  the 
"  Dissenters  "  had  done  during  the  many  years 
in  which  the  latter,  as  a  matter  of  conscience, 
sustained  their  own  ministers  and  the  ordinances 
of  the  Gospel,  while  at  the  same  time,  paying,  in 
the  form  of  arbitrary  taxes,  their  share  in  sup- 
porting a  church  Establishment,  whose  ritual 
and  form  of  government  they  deemed  "  unscrip- 
tural."  It  is  strange  that  the  self-respect  and 
Christian  manhood  of  the  churchmen  of  that 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      45 

day  did  not  induce  them  to  decline  receiving 
money  thus  wrung  from  their  neighbors,  whom 
they  were  pleased  to  characterize  as  ''Dissent- 
ers." Some  of  the  best  minds  among  the  Vir- 
ginia statesmen  were  in  favor  of  the  ''  general 
assessment,"  such  as  Patrick  Henry,  who  thought 
an  assessment  "  should  be  made  for  some  form 
of  worship  or  other  ";  Edmund  Pendleton — "  an 
honest  man,  but  zealous  churchman,"  whom 
Jefferson  characterized  as,  ''taken  all  in  all," 
the  ablest  man  in  debate  he  had  ever  met,"  and 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  who  wrote  that  "  avarice  is 
accomplishing  the  destruction  of  religion  for  want 
of  a  legal  obligation  to  contribute  something  to 
its  support,"  and  even  George  Washington  wrote 
to  George  Mason  (1785),  "  that  he  was  not  much 
alarmed  at  the  thought  of  making  people  pay 
toward  the  support  of  that  which  they  profess." 
On  the  other  hand,  the  assessment  was  opposed  by 
James  Madison  and  George  Mason  (the  intimate 
friend  of  Washington),  and  others — Jefferson 
being  abroad  at  that  time  as  Minister  to  France. 
In  1799  all  laws  made  for  the  benefit  of  religious 
societies  were  repealed,  and,  in  1801,  "  the  'gtebesj' 
as  soon  as  vacated  by  existing  incumbents,  were 
ordered  to  be  sold  by  the  overseers  of  the  poor." 


46  The  Separation  of 

The  different  Effects  of  Petitions  and  Ar^- 
ments. — We  would  not  detract  one  iota  from 
the  merit  of  the  Baptists  and  the  Quakers  in  this 
struggle,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  case — as 
they  presented  only  petitions  and  protests — 
their  efforts  were  not  as  influential  as  the  Pres- 
byterians, who,  from  their  position  on  a  higher 
plane  of  education,  both  ministers  and  laity  were 
able  to  meet  their  opponents  in  open  debate  or 
by  written  arguments  well  put ;  thus  they  be- 
came the  controlling  force  in  bringing  about  the 
reform.  The  latter  never  wavered  in  their  de- 
termination to  secure  the  desired  end,  but,  amid 
discouragements  and  false  faith,  they  calmly 
persevered  in  refuting  the  arguments  of  their 
opponents,  and,  in  the  end,  winning  to  their 
sentiments  the  more  enlightened  and  liberal- 
minded  churchmen,  not  only  in  the  Assembly, 
but  in  the  State. 

Contest  in  respect  to  the  Glebes. — The 
question  of  the  glebes,  which  grew  out  of  the 
repealing  act,  was  also  strongly  contested,  and 
deserves  a  passing  notice.  It  was  argued  that 
the  glebes  should  be  retained  by  the  Episcopal 
Church,  as  some  of  the  funds  applied  in  their 
purchase   had   been   donations.     On  the  other 


Church  and  State  in    Virgmia,      47 

hand,  it  was  contended  that  the  glebes  and 
parsonages  were  public  property,  bought  almost 
entirely  by  funds  raised  by  unjust  taxation — 
the  donations  being  a  very  small  portion  of 
the  whole  amount.  Moreover,  the  Established 
Church  had  had,  up  to  that  time,  the  exclusive 
use  of  the  funds  thus  raised,  the  advantages  of 
which  use  far  overbalanced  the  loss  of  these 
limited  donations,  even  if  they  could  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  common  fund  ;  and  in  addition 
it  retained  its  church  buildings,  though  erected 
by  means  of  moneys  derived  from  taxes  imposed 
upon  the  whole  comm.unity.  It  was  suggested 
that  the  churchmen  were  mostly  wealthy  land 
and  slave  holders,  and  it  was  much  easier  for 
them,  by  voluntary  contributions,  to  sustain 
their  own  Church  than  for  the  other  denomina- 
tions of  Christians  to  support  theirs. 

On  the  subject  of  selling  the  glebes  for  the 
benefit  of  the  whole  people,  the  Baptists  were 
more  strenuous  than  any  of  the  other  **  Dissent- 
ers." Says  Dr.  Hawks  :  "  There  was  a  bitterness 
of  hatred  in  this  denomination  (Baptist)  toward 
the  Establishment,  which  far  surpassed  that  of 
all  other  religious  communities  in  the  colony; 
and  it  was  always  prompt  to  avail  itself  of  every 


48  The  Sepa7-ation  of 

prejudice  which  rehgious  or  political  zeal  could 
excite  against  the  Church  "  {z'ol.  i.,p.  121).  One 
reason  of  this  hostile  feeling  may  have  been  that 
the  Baptists  had  been  persecuted  more  than  the 
other  denominations,  and  in  more  degrading 
forms.  The  remembrance  of  these  outrages 
came  down  from  generation  to  generation,  and 
roused  a  feeling  that  was  closely  allied  to  righte- 
ous indignation.  The  Presbyterians  appear  to 
have  viewed  the  dissolving  of  the  union  of 
Church  and  State  as  the  all-important  question 
at  issue,  and  when  that  was  accomplished  they 
looked  upon  that  of  church  property  as  second- 
ary. In  accordance  with  this  general  sentiment 
of  rejecting  secular  aid  in  any  form,  the  Presby- 
tery of  Hanover  refused  incorporation  for  their 
denomination,  as  had  been  granted  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  contrary 
to  their  views  of  propriety,  and,  from  principle, 
they  declined  any  advantage  to  be  thus  obtained. 
The  Assembly  reconsidered  its  action,  and  finally 
(1787)  repealed  the  law  incorporating  the  Epis- 
copal Church. 

A  half  century  of  Intolerance  remembered. 
— The  Presbyterians  also  remembered  that  their 
church  members  and  ministers  had  labored  for 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.     49 

more  than  a  half  century  under  disabilities 
caused  by  the  intolerance  more  or  less  insti- 
gated by  the  Church  of  England ;  that  in  the 
colony  of  New  York  ministers  of  their  denomi- 
nation had  been  imprisoned  and  otherwise  mal- 
treated. Notably  was  this  the  case  of  Rev. 
Francis  Makemie,  who,  when  on  a  visit  to  that 
colony  from  Maryland,  was  sent  to  jail  by  the 
Governor — Lord  Cornbury — because  he  dared 
preach  in  a  private  house  when  every  hall  or 
church  building  had  been  denied  him  by  the  same 
authority ;  that  at  the  instigation  of  the  "  Rector 
and  Church  Wardens  of  Trinity  Church,"  they 
were  not  permitted  to  have  a  ''  charter  of  incor- 
poration "  for  their  then  only  church  building, 
but  were  compelled  to  resort  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  (1730),  in 
whose  name  as  legal  trustees  the  building  and 
land  belonging  to  "  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  "  was  held  till  the  Revolution  changed 
the  order  of  things.  They  had  met  the  same 
hostile  feeling  in  Virginia,  and  in  a  still  more 
repugnant  form.  Yet  in  the  famous  Memorial 
presented  by  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  to  the 
Virginia  Assembly  (October,  1776),  and  in  the 
many   which    followed,  no   bitterness  was   ex- 


50  The  Separation  of 

pressed,  but,  on  the  contrary,  reasoning  on  the 
injurious  effects  of  the  union  of  Church  and 
State,  on  rehgious  freedom,  on  the  spread  of 
the  Gospel  and  its  pure  and  holy  influence  on 
the  minds  of  the  people. 

An  Apology  urged. — It  is  often  urged  by  way 
of  apology  that  these  intolerant  proceedings 
were  characteristic  of  the  times ;  but  why  were 
not  churchmen  as  liberal  as  the  "  Dissenters  "  ? 
The  latter  did  not  interfere  with  the  Church  of 
England  in  its  ordinances  ;  they  never  were  the 
aggressors ;  but,  as  best  they  could,  only  de- 
fended themselves  from  the  assaults  of  the 
former.  The  truth  is,  this  self-complacent  age, 
though  thus  apologizing,  is  scarcely  justifiable 
in  assuming  to  be  perfect  examples  of  tolerance 
in  religious  matters,  when  we  take  into  con- 
sideration the  higher  plane  on  which  all  de- 
nominations of  Christians  are  presumed  to 
stand  at  the  present  time  in  respect  to  religious 
freedom.  Is  not  the  spirit  which  to-day  mani- 
fests itself,  sometimes  even  in  evangelical  de- 
nominations, of  virtually  tincJnircJiing  those  who 
do  not  use  the  same  mode  as  themselves  in  their 
rites,  or  in  ordaining  preachers  of  the  Word,  as 
intolerant  in  proportion  to  the  light  they  are  pre- 


Chtirch  and  State  in    Virginia.      51 

sumed  to  have  on  the  subject  of"  religious  liber- 
ty, as  those  who  figured  so  ignobly  more  than 
one  hundred  years  ago  ? 

Who  began  the  Movement  and  secured  the 
Result  ? — Justice  and  the  truth  of  history  de- 
mand that  the  services  of  those  who  accom- 
plished this  important  result — the  separation  of 
Church  and  State  in  Virginia — should  be  recog- 
nized. If  the  statements  of  certain  authors  are 
implicitly  received,  the  inference  would  be,  that 
Thomas  Jefferson  originated  the  measure  and 
carried  it  to  a  successful  issue.  In  proof  of  this 
theory,  they  cite  the  bill  he  drew  up  to  secure 
religious  freedom,  which,  as  chairman  of  the 
committee,  he  introduced  into  the  Legislature. 
This  measure  was  not  brought  before  the  As- 
sembly until  some  weeks  after  the  first  memori- 
al of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  was  presented 
to  that  body,  and  referred  to  a  special  commit- 
tee (October  11,  1776),  ''to  take  into  consider- 
ation all  matters  and  things  relating  to  religion 
and  morals."  Of  this  committee  Jefferson  was 
appointed  chairman,  and  in  that  capacity  he 
drew  up  the  bill  and  presented  it  to  the  House. 
There  is  no  historical  evidence  that  he  would  of 
his  own  motion  have  introduced  a  bill  of  that 


52  The  Separation  of 

purport,  had  not  petitions  and  the  memorial 
furnished  him  an  occasion.  This  memorial  was 
the  first  to  intimate  the  necessity  for  the  sepa- 
ration of  Church  and  State.  The  arguments 
which  it  contained  covered  the  whole  ground  of 
religious  freedom  ;  discussing  the  questions  in  a 
manner  lucid  and  terse,  leaving  nothing  more  to 
be  added.  There  is  not  an  idea  in  Jefferson's 
preamble  and  bill  that  is  not  expressed  or  clear- 
ly implied  in  the  memorial ;  the  latter  is  concise 
and  to  the  point ;  the  former  is  clothed  in  easy- 
flowing  terms  of  generalities ;  a  sort  of  theoreti- 
cal style — if  the  term  is  admissible ;  a  character- 
istic of  the  author's  manner  in  treating  similar 
subjects.  The.  preamble  consists  of  one  sentence, 
containing  fifty-two  lines  of  small  print,  on  an  oc- 
tavo page. 

The  Presbyterians  leading,  the  ''  Dissenters  " 
were  the  first  in  that  colony  or  State  to  move  in 
this  reform ;  Jefferson  joined  them,  not  they 
him.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that  he  held 
liberal,  and  now  deemed  correct,  views  on  the 
general  subject  of  free  thought  and  its  free  ex- 
pression, and  that  the  presentation  of  the  me- 
morial gave  him  an  opportunity  of  which  he 
availed  himself  to  express  his  sentiments.   There 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia,      53 

is  no  evidence  that  he  debated  the  question  in 
the  Assembly ;  his  influence  was  exerted  private- 
ly and  by  writing.  In  1784  he  went  to  France 
on  public  business,  and  the  bill  which  bears  his 
name,  when  modified  by  amxcndments,  was  passed 
in  1786 — after  the  lapse  of  ten  years;  thus  go- 
ing into  full  effect  through  the  exertions  of 
George  Mason  and  James  Madison,  especially 
the  latter,  who  was  an  accomplished  debater  and 
writer. 

During  the  ten  years  mentioned  the  advocates 
of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  in  the  Assem- 
bly, changed  their  tactics  almost  every  session, 
and  under  different  forms  sought  to  gain  ad- 
vantage, however  small.  These  various  phases 
of  the  contest  were  counteracted  by  the  persist- 
ent efforts  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover.  Jef- 
ferson, in  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia,"  as  quoted  by 
Randall  {vol.  i.,  p.  204),  charged  the  Presbyteri- 
ans with  intolerance  toward  other  denomina- 
tions in  the  Northern  colonies.  He  made  the 
inexcusable  mistake  for  a  man  of  his  position  of 
confounding  the  Puritans  and  Congregationalists 
with  the  Presbyterians.  He  cites  no  authority 
for  the  charge,  but  he  ought  to  have  known  that 
the  latter  were,  and  had  been,  consistent  advo- 


54  '^he  Separation  of 

cates  for  all  to  enjoy  the  same  religious  freedom 
which  they  demanded  for  themselves ;  and  this 
right,  they  argued,  was  derived  from  a  higher 
authority  than  that  of  the  civil  magistrate.  This 
vital  idea  was  in  the  first  memorial  they  pre- 
sented to  the  Assembly,  and,  moreover,  he 
ought  to  have  borne  in  mind,  that  even  if  the 
Presbyterians  wished,  they  had  no  opportunity 
to  practice  intolerance,  as  they  stood  aloof — 
never  desired  and  never  had  any  control  in  the 
civil  government  of  the  colonies.  Jefferson,  after- 
ward, expressed  his  gratification  that:  "All  be- 
liefs, whether  Christian  or  Infidel,  Jew  or  Mo- 
hammedan, were  put  on  an  equality."  It  does 
not  follow  from  this  statement,  as  has  been 
charged,  that  Jefferson  held  that  one  system  of 
belief  was  as  worthy  of  respect  as  another,  but 
rather  that  he  had  in  his  mind  the  abstract  theo- 
ry of  the  freedom  of  thought  and  its  free  ex- 
pression. 

Religious  Freedom  and  Patriotism. — The 
Presbyterian  Church  has  ever  been  on  the  side 
of  religious  freedom  and  against  intolerance. 
Throughout  her  entire  history,  and  in  all  her 
records,  "  there  is  not  an  act  on  this  great  sub- 
ject that  received  her  sanction,  for  which  she 


Church  and  State  in   Virginia.      55 

need  offer  an  apology"  (Gillett,  vol.  i.^ pp.  169- 
170).  They  were  equally  as  explicit  in  regard 
to  their  patriotism.  The  Synod,  their  highest 
court  at  that  time,  when  in  session  in  Philadel- 
phia, in  May,  1775,  as  patriots  declared:  "That 
they  did  not  wish  to  conceal  their  sentiments, 
either  as  ministers  or  citizens."  Looking  for- 
ward to  a  conflict  of  arms,  they  say  :  "  That 
man  will  fight  most  bravely  who  never  fights 
till  it  is  necessary,  and  who  ceases  to  fight  as 
soon  as  the  necessity  is  over."  This  was  the 
position  taken  and  maintained  by  them  through- 
out the  Revolutionary  struggle. 

Opposition  to  Slavery. — Their  liberal  princi- 
ples were  not  limited  to  religious  freedom  alone. 
In  1787  the  United  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  expressed  the  views  of  that  Church, 
by  resolving  that  they  were  in  favor  of  "  pro- 
moting the  abolition  of  slavery  " — a  sentiment 
they  had  expressed  again  and  again — and  closed 
by  "  recommending  the  people  under  their  care 
to  use  prudent  measures  consistent  with  the 
interest  and  state  of  civil  society  in  the  parts 
where  they  live,  to  procure  eventually  the  final 
abolition  of  slavery  in  America.''  This  was  the 
same  year  in  which   the  Constitution   of   the 


56  The  Separation  of 

United  States  was  formed.  The  convention 
which  framed  it,  met  on  the  14th  of  May,  in 
Philadelphia,  ajid  continued  in  session  four 
months.  The  Synod  met  also  in  the  same  city, 
and  at  the  same  time,  and  its  published  utter- 
ance on  the  subject  was  not  without  influence. 
Six  years  later  (1793),  when  the  Presbyterian 
Church  had  been  organized  on  a  National  basis, 
the  General  Assembly — then  as  now  its  highest 
judicature — reaffirmed  the  same  utterance  in 
respect  to  the  system  of  slavery. 

Influence  of  the  Measure  in  New  England. — 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State  in  Virginia  was  not  without 
influence,  as  within  a  few  years  afterward,  sim- 
ilar results  were  produced  in  New  York,  Mary- 
land, and  the  Carolinas,  wherein  the  Church  of 
England  had  been  established  in  colonial  times. 
The  Legislatures  of  these  States  dissolved  the 
connection  expressly  by  law,  but  in  New  Eng- 
land, where  the  system  was  not  so  arbitrary  and 
unjust,  it  lingered  for  nearly  forty  years  longer. 

Personal  Responsibility  Recognized  and 
Strengthened. — An  important  element  of  influ- 
ence— that  of  personal  responsibility  in  relation 
to  religious  duties— was  strengthened  by  this 


Church  and  State  in   Virginia.      57 

separation,  as  the  Church  was  thus  thrown  for 
its  support  entirely  upon  its  individual  mem- 
bers. From  the  time  of  Jonathan  Edwards  for- 
ward the  true  position  of  the  individual  in  re- 
gard to  personal  religion  became  more  fully- 
understood,  and  the  responsibility  for  the  souls 
of  those  whom  they  governed,  which  we  have 
seen  assumed  by  the  civil  magistrate,  was  grad- 
ually shifted  frofn  the  latter  to  the  individual. 
Consistent  with  this  view,  evangelical  denomi- 
nations have  demanded  only  one  qualification, 
entitling  a  person  to  the  privilege  of  the  com- 
munion— that  of  being  converted  or  a  Christian. 
In  addition,  this  sense  of  responsibility  was  still 
further  strengthened  and  made  practical  when 
individual  members,  irrespective  of  the  State, 
learned  to  sustain  the  ordinances  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  and  labored  to  extend  the  blessings 
of  the  Gospel ;  to  this  principle  may  be  traced 
that  remarkable  spirit  of  benevolence,  which,  in 
various  forms,  has  made  our  times,  when  com- 
pared with  the  past,  the  golden  age  of  the 
world. 

Self-denial  and  Benevolence.— The  ''  Dis- 
senters" in  colonial  times  in  their  hard  disci- 
pline acquired  the  grace  of  being  benevolent. 


58  The  Separation  of 

In  their  zeal  for  what  they  believed  the  truth, 
they  made  immense  sacrifices ;  they  paid  their 
share  not  only  in  supporting  a  religious  estab- 
lishment with  which  they  had  no  sympathy, 
but,  in  addition,  sustained  their  own  Church 
ordinances — thus  manifesting  a  self-denial  which, 
because  of  their  exertions,  American  Christians, 
since  that  time,  have  had  no  occasion  to  prac- 
tice. The  churchmen  of  that  day  were  stran- 
gers to  such  self-denial.  They  had  never  been 
in  a  school  where  it  was  taught ;  nor  had  they 
learned  the  truth  of  each  one's  responsibility  in 
proportion  to  his  means,  to  aid  in  supporting 
the  Gospel.  In  the  broadness  of  liberal  senti- 
ments they  were  far  behind  the  ''  Dissenters," 
and  it  became  a  great  blessing  to  the  spiritual- 
ity of  that  Church  when  its  entire  support  was 
thrown  upon  its  own  members. 

Influence  of  the  Voluntary  Principle. — The 
voluntary  principle,  based  as  it  is  on  individual 
responsibility,  has  since  pervaded  the  churches 
of  the  whole  Union,  the  beneficent  effects  of 
which  are  seen  not  only  in  the  support  of  the 
Gospel  in  all  its  special  relations,  and  in  aiding 
institutions  of  learning,  but  in  originating  and 
sustaining  the  benevolent  operations  of  the  day 


Church  and  State  in    Virginia.      59 

— greater  in  proportion  than  ever  before — while 
the  whole  missionary  enterprise  in  the  land. 
Foreign  and  Domestic,  may  be  attributed  to 
the  same  principle.  These  ''  Dissenters  "  were 
far  advanced  for  the  times  in  the  great  princi- 
ples of  religious  freedom  and  Christian  charities. 
To  them  the  purity  and  the  free  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  was  paramount  to  all  other  consider- 
ations. They  held  the  doctrine,  which  obtains 
to-day  among  the  Protestants  of  the  Union, 
that  the  Church  should  not  dominate  the  State, 
nor  the  State  the  Church,  but  that  they  should 
mutually  sustain  each  other — the  one  by  incul- 
cating good  morals  and  obedience  to  law,  and 
the  other  by  protecting  the  free  preaching  of 
the  Gospel,  and  the  practicing  of  its  principles. 


IL 


A   CONCISE   HISTORY   OF  THE  PRES- 
BYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN    THE 
UNITED   STATES,    FROM 
1705   TO    i: 


II. 


THE     NATIONAL    AND    CHURCH     GOV- 
ERNMENTS. 

The  Two  Movements. — During  the  latter  part 
of  this  hand-to-hand  contest  between  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly  and  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover, 
another  important  movement  was  also  in  prog- 
ress throughout  the  entire  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  discussions  in  respect  to  which  became  more 
earnest  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution  and 
the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  The  ques- 
tion thus  agitated  was  in  relation  to  a  plan  of 
church  polity  that  could  be  adapted  to  the  new 
order  of  affairs,  which  had  grown  out  of  the 
separation  from  the  mother  country.  These 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  intelligent  laymen 
took  comprehensive  views  of  the  situation  of 
their  Church,  which  was  now  free  and  untram- 
meled  to  extend  its  influence  over  a  continent. 
It  had  already  crossed  the  Alleghanies,  and  in 
two  divisions — one  in  Kentucky,  the  other  in 
Western  Pennsylvania — had  taken  position  and 

(63) 


64  The  Presbyterian   Church 

founded  churches  as  outposts  on  the  eastern 
edge  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Meanwhile  another  movement  was  in  progress 
in  respect  to  the  civil  or  political  relations  of 
the  States,  in  which  the  leading  statesmen  and 
intelligent,  thinking  minds  took  an  absorbing 
interest.  The  political  question  was  in  what 
manner  the  thirteen  States  could  be  consoli- 
dated into  one  government,  for  they  were  now 
partially  disintegrated,  since  the  resistance  to 
the  common  enemy,  which  had  held  them  so 
long  in  union,  had  disappeared,  when  peace  was 
concluded  with  England.  The  lengthy  discus- 
sions of  these  questions  of  government,  both 
in  Church  and  State,  no  doubt  elicited  a  sym- 
pathy that  was  reciprocal  between  the  leading 
minds  thus  engaged  ;  especially  can  this  be  said 
of  those  statesmen  who  were  members  of  the 
churches  of  the  several  denominations,  while  in 
respect  to  civil  affairs  all  were  deeply  interested. 

Kinds  of  Church  Governments. — The  lead- 
ing principles  of  the  government  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States — though 
modeled  somewhat  after  that  of  the  same 
Church  in  Scotland — were  from  the  first  repub- 
lican in  form  ;  that  is,  having  the  delegates  to 


in  the   United  States.  65 

its  judicatures  chosen  by  the  people  or  church 
members,  in  order  that  the  former  might  be 
truly  their  representatives.  This  mode  of  gov- 
ernment was  so  constituted  that  it  could  be 
adapted  to  a  large  or  a  small  number  of  church- 
es, and  also  to  a  large  or  small  number  of  the 
members  of  each  church.  As  a  matter  of  his- 
tory, it  may  be  noted  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  established  this  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment (1705)  long  before  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  made,  and  it  has  continued 
virtually  unchanged  in  its  application  to  the 
present  hour.  It  is  clearly  seen  that  this  church 
government  is  consistent  in  its  principles  with 
our  republican  institutions — both  National  and 
State — that  were  afterward  established. 

In  contradistinction,  the  mode  of  church  gov- 
ernment adopted  by  the  Congregationalists  and 
Baptists  was  democratic  in  the  extreme,  and 
limited  to  each  church,  while  the  churches 
themselves  were  virtually  independent  of  one 
another  in  respect  to  any  authorized  mode  of 
discipline,  or  of  a  uniform  confession  of  faith  or 
doctrine.  In  accordance  with  this  theory  of 
government,  there  could  be  no  measures  intro- 
duced which,  in  connection  with  church  judica- 


66  The  Presbyte7'iaii   Church 

tures,  could  aid  practically  in  bringing  the  mem- 
bers of  their  own  churches  throughout  the  entire 
country  into  doctrinal  and  religious  sympathy 
with  one  another ;  instead,  each  church  was  so 
much  isolated  that  its  influence  in  consequence 
was  greatly  limited.  Before  the  Revolution  the 
Church  of  England  in  America  was  governed 
by  that  of  the  mother  country,  and  almost  with- 
out reference  to  the  wishes  of  its  church  mem- 
bers. Its  rectors  being  appointed  by  the  Bishop 
of  London,  under  whose  jurisdiction  the  church- 
es of  the  Establishment  in  the  American  col- 
onies were  placed,  and,  in  addition  to  this 
arrangement,  the  colonial  governors  had  the 
absolute  authority  of  inducting  or  not  as  they 
pleased  these  rectors  into  their  sacred  office. 

Presbyterians  and  the  Pilgrims. — Among 
the  early  colonists  of  New  England  were  great 
numbers  of  Presbyterians.  The  Pilgrims  were, 
it  would  seem,  for  the  greater  part  of  that 
Church ;  Robinson,  their  pastor  at  Leyden,  was 
a  Presbyterian,  and  William  Brewster  an  elder, 
and  in  that  capacity  the  latter  came  with  them 
to  Plymouth,  it  being  thought  expedient  for 
Robinson  to  remain  at  Leyden  a  while  longer. 
Though  in  these  early  days  there  were  many 


in  the   United  States.  67 

Presbyterians  in  connection  with  the  New  Eng- 
land churches,  yet  in  that  part  of  the  country 
they  never,  till  more  recent  times,  organized 
themselves  as  a  separate  body  of  Christians. 

The  first  Congregational  church  in  America 
was  formed  in  Charlestown  on  the  30th  of  July, 
1630.  Soon  afterward,  *'  crossing  the  Charles 
River,  it  became  known  as  the  First  Church  of 
Boston,"  and  it  also  became  ''  the  seminal  cen- 
tre of  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  Massachu- 
setts." It  embodied  as  one  of  the  principles  of 
Congregationalism  :  "  The  equality  of  the  sev- 
eral churches,  free  from  the  jurisdiction  of  ec- 
clesiastical court  or  bishop  ;  free  from  the  juris- 
diction of  one  church  over  another,  and  free 
from  the  collective  authority  of  them  all  "  {Ban- 
croft^ vol.  i.,  p.  238,  last  revision). 

The  members  of  the  Independent  or  Con- 
gregational churches  in  New  England  were 
largely  in  the  majority,  and  prospered  greatly, 
but  in  the  course  of  time  they  unfortunately 
became  somewhat  intolerant  in  respect  to  other 
denominations  of  Christians  (^^^  this  Booklet,  pp. 
8  a?id  9). 

The  genius  for  systematic  government  seems, 
from  the  very  first,  to  have  imbued  the  minds 


68  The  Presbytei^ian  Church 

of  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
well  as  those  of  its  intelligent  laymen ;  the  lat- 
ter always  being  associated  with  the  former  in 
the  exercise  of  such  government.  This  method 
assures  the  individual  members  of  the  church, 
that  they  themselves  by  means  of  their  repre- 
sentatives— the  elders — have  a  voice  in  the  man- 
agement of  its  affairs  ;  such  knowledge  also  en- 
hances their  own  individual  responsibility  to  aid 
in  promoting  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  through 
the  medium  of  their  own  church,  by  means  of 
their  personal  Christian  character  and  their  con- 
tributions. 

The  First  Presbytery. — We  intend — for  the 
sake  of  the  connection — to  give  a  summary  of  the 
historical  facts  that  pertain  to  the  government 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  to  its  divisions 
and  reunions,  previous  to  the  formation  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  1788,  as  well  as  a  concise 
account  of  its  subsequent  history. 

The  first  Presbytery  constituted  in  America 
was  at  Freehold,  in  the  colony  of  New  Jersey, 
in  1705  or  1706 ;  from  the  minutes  of  a  meeting 
in  the  latter  year,  we  learn  that  it  consisted  of 
seven  members.  Though  there  had  been  Pres- 
byterian ministers   in   the  middle  colonies   for 


in  the   United  States.  69 

about  a  quarter  of  a  century ;  and  who  labored 
in  the  capacity  of  evangelists  or  traveling  preach- 
ers, and  also  as  settled  pastors.  As  the  number 
of  churches  increased  more  and  more  in  these 
colonies,  a  Synod  (17 17)  was  formed  in  order  to 
promote  intercourse,  and  also  uniformity  of 
doctrine  and  practice  among  the  several  Presby- 
teries, and  from  this  time  onward,  as  exigencies 
demanded,  new  Presbyteries  were  organized; 
then  Synods  as  required,  and  finally  (1788) 
the  General  Assembly,  to  include  the  Church 
throughout  the  land. 

Fraternal  Intercourse — The  Synod. — The 
traditions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  are,  and 
always  have  been,  in  favor  of  much  and  genuine 
fraternal  intercourse  among  its  members.  One 
of  the  means  which  it  has  used  in  accomplishing 
this  grand  result,  is  in  having  frequent  meetings 
of  its  church  judicatures ;  more  than  usual  in 
number,  when  compared  with  those  of  other 
denominations.  The  meeting  together  so  often 
has  had,  among  other  desirable  effects,  that  of 
eliciting  sympathy  between  the  members  of  the 
different  churches  in  the  various  sections  of  the 
country,  and  thus  promoting  a  Christianized 
sentiment  of   brotherly  love.     Accordingly,  as 


70  The  Presbyte7'ian   Church 

the  number  of  the  churches  increased  and  were 
scattered  in  the  land,  new  Presbyteries  were 
organized,  and  as  the  members  desired  still  more 
intercourse  with  one  another,  since  they  met 
only  with  the  brethren  of  their  respective  Pres- 
byteries, they  formed  a  Synod  which  should 
bear  a  similar  relationship  to  the  Presbyteries 
as  that  of  the  latter  to  the  churches.  The  Synod 
was  constituted  in  the  same  ratio  as  the  Presby- 
tery— each  minister  was  accompanied  by  an 
elder  from  the  church  or  churches  of  which  he 
was  pastor ;  in  this  manner  were  the  rights  of 
the  members  of  the  church  recognized  and  re- 
spected. All  the  ministers  belonging  to  the 
Synod  were  required  to  meet  in  session  once  in 
each  year.  This  mode  of  government  prevailed 
for  about  seventy  years ;  that  is,  from  171 7  to 
1788,  when  the  General  Assembly  was  organ- 
ized,— the  latter  being  a  representative  body, 
but  drawing  its  delegates  not  from  the  Synods 
but  directly  from  the  Presbyteries,  they  being 
nearer  the  people  or  church  members. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  formation  of 
the  first  Synod,  the  increase  of  the  churches  was 
great,  and  they  were  much  extended  along  the 
Atlantic  slope,  south  of  Connecticut,  while  the 


in  the   United  States.  ji 

number  of  the  Presbyteries  also  increased  in 
proportion.  It  was  found  that  owing  to  the 
distances  and  difficulties  of  travel  a  great  many 
ministers  and  elders  were  unable  to  attend  regu- 
larly all  the  meetings  of  the  Synod.  To  obviate 
this  inconvenience  it  was  decided  (1724)  to  make 
the  Synod  a  sort  of  representative  body — that 
was  done  by  the  Presbyteries  sending  half  their 
number  of  members  in  alternate  years.  It  w^as 
also  arranged  that  every  third  year  there  should 
be  a  full  attendance  of  all  the  members. 


III. 

THE   TWO   VITAL   PRINCIPLES. 

Two  leading  and  practical  ideas  have  per- 
vaded the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  coun- 
try for  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
and  to  such  an  extent  as  to  have  become  a  vital 
element  in  its  inner  life.  One  of  these  is,  the 
strict  adherence  to  the  rule  of  having  a  ministry 
as  thoroughly  educated  as  possible ;  the  other,  to 
preserve  an  unwavering  adherence  to  the  Bible 
itself,  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith.  From 
the  first  rule  the  judicatures  of  the  Church  have 
never  deviated,  though  often  urged  by  well- 
meaning  members,  to  license  uneducated  men 
to  preach  as  regularly  ordained  ministers  on  the 
plea  of  expediency  under  certain  circumstances. 
The  first  struggle  on  this  question  was  in  1748 
(see  p.  14),  but  after  a  full  discussion  the  rule  was 
sustained  triumphantly,  and  instead,  even  an 
additional  year  of  study  was  required  of  candi- 
dates  for   the  ministry.     As   there  have  been 

made  only  two  persistent  attempts  in  the  Church 

(72) 


The  Presbyterian   Church.  "j^ 

to  lower  the  standard  of  the  education  of  its 
ministry  for  the  sake  of  the  connection — though 
not  strictly  in  the  order  of  time — we  now  notice 
the  incident.  More  than  sixty  years  after  the 
first  struggle  a  second  one  occurred,  but  only 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky ; 
and  which,  after  lasting  several  years,  was  ended 
in  1 8 14  (Gillett,  vol.  i.,  pp.  453-456). 

Cumberland  Presbyterians. — There  had  been 
extensive  revivals  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Synod  of  that  State,  and  great  numbers  professed 
themselves  Christians.  In  connection  with  these 
revivals  were  many  irregular  practices,  and  of 
the  converts,  a  number  of  uneducated  but  zeal- 
ous men  essayed  to  preach,  and  an  effort  was 
made  on  the  part  of  some  ministers  belonging 
to  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  to  have  these 
men  licensed  as  such.  The  Synod  refused  to 
give  their  sanction,  and  in  the  course  of  several 
years  many  attempts  were  made  to  reconcile  the 
parties  at  variance,  and  also  appeals  were  made 
to  the  General  Assembly.  The  sum  of  the 
latter's  final  action  was  to  sustain  the  course 
of  the  Synod  "  as  firm  and  temperate,"  in  not 
licensing  uneducated  men  to  preach,  but  gave 
permission    for    the    Presbytery   to    ''  sanction 


74  The  Presbyterian  Church 

catechists  and  exhorters."  A  number  of  these 
men  were  of  exceptional  ability,  but  over  whom 
"  the  Presbytery  was  to  keep  careful  watch  and 
supervision."  This  decision  failed  to  satisfy 
some  members  of  the  Presbytery,  and  they  with- 
drew and  formed  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  If  we  may  judge  from  the  efforts  made 
to-day  by  the  latter  branch  to  supply  its  churches 
with  a  thoroughly  educated  ministry,  we  would 
infer  that  the  present  members  think  that  these 
good  men  on  the  point  then  at  issue,  may  possi- 
bly have  made  a  mistake.  The  rule  was  again 
sustained,  as  the  secession  of  a  portion  of  the 
Presbytery  did  not  infringe  the  principle  in- 
volved. The  scholarship  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministry  has  always  kept  pace  with  every  branch 
of  advanced  secular  and  theological  education, 
and  to-day  the  former  study  science  much  more 
than  scientists  study  theology. 

Value  of  an  educated  Ministry. — The  influ- 
ence of  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  great- 
ly enhanced  by  its  persistent  policy  for  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  of  having 
none  other  than  an  educated  ministry.  There 
is  clearer  evidence  to-day  (1887)  than  ever,  of 
her    unrelaxed    zeal    in    the   education   of    her 


in  the   Ufiited  States.  75 

clergymen  —  witness  her  Theological  Semina- 
ries, taken  as  a  whole,  the  finest  endowed  in- 
stitutions of  that  class  in  the  land,  and  each  one 
manned  by  a  carefully  selected  corps  of  Profes- 
sors. To  these  seminaries,  as  a  rule,  no  student 
is  admitted,  unless  he  can  bring  a  diploma  from 
some  college  or  give  evidence  of  an  equivalent 
preparation ;  while  the  curriculum  of  study  is 
extended  from  time  to  time  to  keep  pace  with 
the  advance  of  the  biblical  scholarship  of  the  age. 
The  researches  in  the  lands  of  the  Bible  itself, 
and  in  those  intimately  connected  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  people  of  God,  are  utilized  to  the  full 
extent  in  the  instruction  given  on  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  In  this  connec- 
tion— though  we  would  not  detract  from  what 
others  have  done — it  is  not  out  of  place  to  note 
the  large  number  of  eminent  biblical  scholars  that 
have  been  and  are  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  who  in  addition  to  their  instructions  given 
students,  have  sent  forth  to  the  world  in  the 
form  of  books,  the  ripe  fruits  of  their  scholar- 
ship. In  these  volumes  different  authors  be- 
longing to  the  Church  have  treated  extensively 
of  the  original  languages  in  which  the  Scriptures 
were  written  ;  theology  in  its  several  phases  ;  col- 


76  The  Pi^esbyterian  Church 

lateral  studies  pertaining  to  the  mental  powers, 
and  the  relations  of  all  to  morals, — in  truth,  in 
every  form  in  which  the  grand  subject  can  be 
elucidated.  In  this  field  of  instruction  and 
learning  the  Congregationalist  Church  has,  also, 
sustained  a  noble  part.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
the  great  influence  of  the  theological  learning 
and  ardent  zeal  of  this  body  of  Christians  in 
education,  and  in  promoting  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tian brotherhood  within  the  Nation,  is  some- 
what diminished  in  consequence  of  their  form 
of  government ;  as  the  latter  does  not  admit,  by 
means  of  regularly  constituted  church  judica- 
tures, an  extensive  intercourse  between  the 
brethren — clerical  and  lay — who,  coming  from 
distant  portions  of  the  land,  would,  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  conditions,  induce  a  more  vivid  feel- 
ing of  Christian  brotherhood  and  sympathy,  that 
might  extend  and  become  more  national.  It  is 
noticeable  that  this  great  advance  in  biblical 
learning  has  been  confined  in  the  United  States 
almost  entirely  to  the  two  denominations  men- 
tioned, wherein  prevails  \.\\^ parity  of  the  clergy; 
can  it  be  that  in  consequence  of  that  fact,  each 
minister  recognizes  his  duty  and  responsibility 
to  become  properly  fitted  for  his  work  in  secur- 


in  the   United  States.  77 

ing  for  himself  the  quahfications  of  a  thoroughly 
educated  theologian  ? 

The  General  Assembly  is  the  final  authority 
in  the  appointment  of  the  Professors  in  the 
Seminaries.  Is  it  strange,  in  view  of  all  this 
care,  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  members 
should  place  so  high  a  value  upon  an  educated 
ministry,  through  whose  efforts  they  themselves 
have  been  raised  to  an  unusually  high  plane  of 
biblical  intelligence  ? 

Guarding  the  Faith. — The  Church  was  much 
agitated  during  a  portion  of  the  existence  of  the 
first  Synod  (1717-1729).  The  occasion  of  this 
excitement  did  not  originate  within  the  Synod 
itself,  but  abroad,  where  a  laxity  in  respect  to 
evangelical  doctrines  had  prevailed  to  a  large 
extent  among  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Some  of 
these  held  ^*  Arminian  and  Pelagian  errors,"  and 
it  was  known  that  a  number  of  ministers  hold- 
ing these  views  had  already  migrated  to  the 
colonies,  and  others  were  about  to  follow ;  the  lat- 
ter in  all  probability  would  wish  to  unite  in  this 
country  with  the  same  Church.  It  therefore  be- 
came a  question  as  to  the  most  efficient  mode  of 
guarding  against  the  intrusion  into  the  churches 


78  The  Presbyterian   Church, 

of  ministers  holding  these  objectionable  views. 
After  the  subject  had  been  under  discussion  in 
various  forms  for  some  years — because  at  first 
the  members  were  far  from  being  unanimous  as 
to  the  best  means  of  warding  off  the  impending 
evil — the  Synod  finally  united  upon  a  plan, 
which  was  as  follows :  "  We  do,  therefore,  agree 
that  all  the  ministers  of  this  Synod,  or  that  shall 
hereafter  be  admitted  into  this  Synod,  shall  de- 
clare their  agreement  in,  and  approbation  of,  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  West- 
minster, ....  and  do  also  adopt  the  said  Con- 
fession and  Catechisms  as  the  Confession  of  our 
Faith"  (Gillett,  vol.  l,  p.  55).  This  was  the 
"  Adopting  Act  "  of  1729.  The  Presbyteries 
were,  also,  enjoined  to  require  their  licentiates 
to  subscribe  the  same  Confession,  etc. 


IV. 

DIVISION    AND   REUNION. 

The  Great  Revival. — The  Synod  continued 
to  prosper;  during  twelve  years  (1729-1741), 
more  than  forty  ministers  were  added  to  its 
number ;  of  these,  a  few  had  been  trained  in  the 
American  Church,  but  nearly  one-half  were  from 
Scotland  and  North  Ireland.  Near  the  close  of 
this  period  a  new  element  of  discord  intervened. 
Differences  of  opinion  were  prevalent  and  had 
their  respective  influence.  Some  of  these  per- 
tained to  the  establishment  of  schools  for  the 
instruction  in  theology  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  also  in  respect  to  the  manner  of 
preaching  the  Gospel ;  one  phase  of  the  latter 
grew  out  of  the  great  revival  that  commenced 
in  1735  under  Jonathan  Edwards,  at  North- 
ampton, Massachusetts,  and  whose  influence  ex- 
tended to  the  middle  colonies  {Pat ton  s  Ameri- 
can People,  pp.  266-268).  Among  the  leading 
preachers  in  the  latter,  were  the  Tennants — the 
father  and  four  sons — of  whom  the  more  promi- 

(79) 


8o  The  Presbyterian  Church 

nent  were  William  and  Gilbert,  but  they  all 
preached  with  power  and  their  labors  were 
greatly  blest.  They  were  aided  also  by  the  cele- 
brated George  Whitefield,  then  on  his  preaching 
tours  through  the  colonies.  Many  members  of 
the  Synod  did  not  approve  the  manner  of  the 
revivalists,  nor  certain  measures  which  they  in- 
troduced, neither  did  they  seem  to  be  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  revival  itself ;  there  were, 
perhaps,  as  many  others  who  looked  upon  the 
work  as  having  the  blessing  of  the  Head  of  the 
Church. 

The  Old  Side— The  New  Side.— Unfortu- 
nately difficulties  obtruded  themselves,  and  a 
few  good  men  were  indiscreet,  while  others  were 
harsh  in  their  judgments.  The  opponents  of 
the  work  were  characterized  as  holding  "a  dead 
orthodoxy,"  while  it  was  admitted  that  the  re- 
vivalists were  equally  orthodox,  though  they 
were  spiritually  alive  and  vividly  imbued  with 
zeal  for  the  salvation  of  men — the  latter's  style  of 
preaching  being  exceedingly  impressive.  The 
steady  conservatives,  who  were  opposed  to  any 
innovations  in  the  usual  manner  of  preaching, 
were  known  as  the  "  Old  Side,"  and  the  fervid 
revivalists  as  the  ''  New  Side."     Thus  the  agi- 


in  the   United  States.  8i 

tation  continued  for  several  years ;  meanwhile 
much  bitterness  was  evolved,  and  also  an  im 
mense  amount  of  good  in  spite  of  the  disturb- 
ing elements  by  which   many  good   men  were 
carried  beyond  their  usual  Christian  demeanor. 

The  Division  of  the  Synod. — These  differ- 
ences of  opinion  and  practice  finally  resulted  in 
the  division  of  the  Synod,  inasmuch  as  the 
"  New  Side  "  or  New  Brunswick  party  and  their 
sympathizers  withdrew,  thus  causing  the  divis- 
ion. The  moderate  and  conservative  in  both 
*' Sides"  mourned  this  result. 

*'  The  New  Brunswick  party  were  zealous  for 
what  they  regarded  as  vital  evangelical  truth, 
and,  in  the  over-earnestness  of  their  purpose, 

forgot  charity  and  discretion The  others, 

indignant  under  a  sense  of  wrong,  were  forced  to 
appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  common  standards 
and  the  rules  of  the  Synod,  which  their  brethren 
had  too  much  disregarded.  Thus  one  party  ap- 
pealed to  the  Word  of  God,  the  other  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith.  One,  zealous  for  the  truth, 
fell  the  victim  of  its  theories;  the  other,  resolute 
for  order,  could  see  only  the  letter  of  the  consti- 
tution." The  two  Synods  were  therefore  con- 
stituted (1741),— the  ''  Old  Side,"  known  as  the 


82  The  Presbyterian   CJmrch 

Philadelphia,  and  the  *'  New  Side,"  as  that  of 
New  York  ;  though  the  latter  did  not  take  form 
till  four  years  later,  when  it  was  duly  organized 
by  union  with  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery 
{Drs,  Gillett  and  Hodge). 

Zeal  for  Religion. — The  period  of  the  divis- 
ion— seventeen  years  (i 741- 175 8) — was  charac- 
terized by  an  increase  of  religious  influence, 
especially  on  the  part  of  the  New  Side,  who 
continued  their  fervent  mode  of  preaching,  and 
which  was  followed  by  great  increase  of  commu^ 
nicants  in  the  Church,  and  also  in  the  number 
of  young  men  who  became  students  and  event- 
ually devoted  themselves  to  the  ministry.  In  the 
course  of  these  years  such  accessions  were  nearly 
eightfold  when  compared  with  that  of  the  Old 
Side.  The  New  York  Synod  exhibited  great 
zeal  in  supplying  destitute  fields  within  its 
bounds,  and  in  consequence  the  friends  of  the 
revival  sympathized  with  them  deeply.  The 
Old  Side,  meanwhile,  labored  under  almost  in- 
surmountable difficulties.  Their  lack  of  inter- 
est in  the  revivals,  if  not  their  direct  opposition, 
deprived  them  of  the  sympathy  of  great  num- 
bers of  ardent  Christians  within  their  own  ranks, 
who,  perhaps,  were  there  from  location   rather 


in  the   United  States.  Z^) 

than  choice.  Both  parties  established  schools 
for  training  candidates  for  the  sacred  office  ;  out 
of  one  of  these  grew  Princeton  College,  and, 
subsequently,  the  Theological  Seminary. 

The  Reunion, — During  these  seventeen  years 
continued  efforts  were  made  by  many  in  both 
parties  to  bring  about  a  reunion,  as  the  cause  of 
religion  and  brotherly  love  was  deeply  injured 
by  the  contention,  which  on  the  part  of  some 
did  not  partake  to  a  large  extent  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  nor  of  the  golden 
rule.  But  these  asperities  were  gradually  worn 
away  by  the  attrition  of  Christian  love  and  for- 
bearance practiced  by  the  prudent  in  both  par- 
ties, till  the  way  was  prepared  for  a  more  stable 
union  of  the  Synods  than  had  ever  existed  before. 
At  length  the  leading  minds  of  the  majority  in 
both  parties  were  fully  prepared  to  unite  the 
Synods,  and  thus  heal  the  breach  in  the  Church. 
During  the  seventeen  years  of  the  separation 
there  had  been  no  virtual  deviation  on  either  side 
from  the  doctrinal  principles  on  which  the  Adopt- 
ing Act  was  based  thirty  years  before,  and  they 
could  now  unite  consistently.  The  first  article 
of  the  basis  of  the  union  reads :  "  Both  Synods 
having  always  approved  and  received  the  West- 


84  TJie  Presbyterian  Church. 

minster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms  as  an  orthodox  and  ex- 
cellent system  of  Christian  doctrine,  founded  on 
the  Word  of  God,  we  do  still  receive  the  same  as 
the  Confession  of  our  Faith."  After  a  number 
of  minor  details  in  relation  to  some  of  the  Pres- 
byteries were  arranged,  the  union  was  complet- 
ed  (i;58). 


V. 

THE   TROUBLOUS   TIMES. 

The  prosperity  of  the  Church  was  great  during 
this  period  of  union  (1758-1788),  but  troublous 
times  with  the  mother  country  were  impending, 
and  when  the  Synod  seventeen  years  later  met 
in  Philadelphia  on  May  17,  1775,  blood  had  al- 
ready been  shed,  for  just  one  month  before,  to 
a  day,  the  conflicts  at  Concord  and  Lexington 
had  taken  place.  The  news  had  spread  through- 
out the  country,  producing  great  excitement  and 
anxiety  in  the  popular  mind. 

Patriotism  —  The  Pastoral  Letter.  —  The 
Synod,  in  addition  to  its  ordinary  cares  and 
duties  which  it  owed  to  the  churches  as  such, 
also  realized  the  dangers  that  the  approaching 
contest  would  bring  upon  their  country,  and 
they  made  known  their  patriotic  sentiments, 
and  in  no  uncertain  tone.  They,  it  seems 
for  the  first  time,  addressed  a  pastoral  letter 
to   the   members   of   the   Presbyterian   Church 

tliroughout   the   colonies.      The   spirit  of   this 

(85) 


86  The  Presbyterian   CJutrch 

pastoral  was  such  as  to  inculcate  union  among 
the  colonies,  and  mutual  charity  and  good- 
will among  the  different  religious  denomina- 
tions, and  the  promotion  of  good  morals  and 
good  government ;  reformation  of  manners,  per- 
sonal honesty  and  humanity  on  the  part  of  those 
who  might  soon  be  called  to  the  field,  as  a  con- 
flict of  arms  between  the  colonies  and  the 
mother  country  seemed  inevitable.  The  Synod 
ordered  500  copies  of  this  pastoral  letter  to  be 
printed  at  its  own  expense,  and  circulated 
throughout  the  churches,  from  whose  pulpits  it 
was  read  to  many  thousands.  "  The  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  by  the  act  of  its  highest  judicatory, 
thus  took  its  stand  at  Philadelphia  by  the  side 
of  the  American  (Continental)  Congress  then  in 
session  (in  the  same  city)  and  its  influence  was 
felt  in  a  most  decisive  manner  throughout  the 
bounds  of  the  Church." 

A  comprehensive  Church  Government. — 
After  the  close  of  the  Revolution  and  when  the 
States  were  in  their  respective  governments 
independent  of  one  another,  it  would  seem 
the  Continental  Congress,  nominally  a  legislat- 
ive body  over  all,  had  little  influence,  as  the 
laws  it  enacted  rose  only  to  the  dignity  of  rec- 


in  the   United  States.  %^ 

ommendations.  The  far-sighted  ministers  and 
laymen  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  saw  the  ne- 
cessity for  a  more  comprehensive  appHcation  of 
their  system  of  government  in  order  to  promote 
unity  of  the  Church  throughout  the  land  ;  at 
the  same  time  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  now 
disintegrated  States  were  devising  for  them  a 
more  compact  union,  and  the  formation  of  a 
general  government  in  which  all  should  be  com- 
prehended. The  former  foreshadowed  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
the  latter  the  .  National  government  of  the 
United  States.  Both  were  representative  bodies; 
the  delegates  to  the  one  were  duly  authorized  to 
represent  the  people  or  church  members ;  to 
take  cognizance  of  the  fundamental  doctrines, 
and  a  uniform  discipline,  and  all  affairs  that  re- 
lated to  the  well-being  and  prosperity  of  the 
whole  Church,  while  matters  of  a  local  nature 
were  left  to  the  supervision  of  the  minor  judica- 
tures ;  the  other  to  legislate  on  all  affairs  foreign 
and  domestic  that  pertained  to  the  whole  Na- 
tion, while  local  matters  were  intrusted  to  the 
care  of  the  individual  States. 

The  Church  was  the  first  to  move  in  inaugu- 
rating this  comprehensive  system,  and  as  if  these 


SS  The  Presbyleriau    Church 

men  had  a  prevision  of  the  vastness  of  the  ter- 
ritory occupied  to-day  by  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  plan  was  so  devised  that  it  could 
be  adjusted  to  all  probable  exigencies  that 
might  occur,  and  in  respect  to  such  adaptation 
it  has  been  found  adequate.  Meanwhile  the 
secular  or  political  world  was  moving  on  paral- 
lel lines  in  the  effort  to  form  a  more  united 
government  under  a  constitution. 

Discordant  and  Rival  States. — The  several 
States,  though  neighboring,  were  virtually  in- 
dependent of  each  other,  and  history  records 
that  they  were  more  or  less  governed  by  selfish 
interests,  which  caused  anxiety  in  intelligent 
minds,  as  to  whereunto  these  evils  would  grow. 
This  spirit  of  gain  was  specially  manifest  in  the 
States  that  had  suitable  harbors,  and  they  yield- 
ed to  the  temptation  of  imposing  duties  on  im- 
ported merchandise  in  such  manner  as  to  ad- 
vance each  one's  own  interests  irrespective  of 
the  general  effect  upon  their  neighbors.  This 
condition  of  affairs  induced  the  influential  men 
in  the  several  States  to  take  measures  for  reme- 
dying these  evils  by  bringing  about  a  union, 
thus  consolidating  them  into  one  government 
that  they  might  become  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  the 


in  the   United  States.  89 

eyes  of  the  world,  a  Nation.  George  Washing- 
ton said,  "  We  must  have  a  government  under 
one  Constitution  ;  we  must  treat  with  other 
nations  as  a  whole,  for  we  cannot  separately." 
This  political  agitation  continued  from  the  dis- 
bandment  of  the  Continental  army  to  the  form- 
ation of  the  United  States  Constitution  and  its 
adoption  by  the  people,  (Nov.  3,  1783-1788). 
During  this  period  of  four  or  five  years,  one  or 
two  local  conventions  were  held  by  delegates 
from  neighboring  districts,  but  never  before 
from  all  the  States  did  delegates  assemble,  until 
in  the  great  convention  held  in  Philadelphia  in 
1787  (see  pp.  54,  55),  and  which  framed  the  pres- 
ent Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  under 
which,  after  it  had  been  adopted  by  the  people, 
George  Washington  was  inaugurated  President 
(1789),  and  we  began  our  National  life. 


VI. 

ORIGIN   OF  THE   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

The  movement  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
began  practically  in  1785,  when,  as  prehminary 
to  constituting  a  representative  judicature  of 
last  resort  for  the  Church  throughout  the  whole 
land,  a  motion  was  made  to  divide  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  into  three  Syn- 
ods. The  following  year  the  motion  was  amend- 
ed so  as  to  read  three  or  more  Synods  ;  the  latter 
provision  covered  the  whole  ground,  as  it  left 
the  number  of  Synods  to  be  extended  according 
to  circumstances,  while  over  all  it  was  in  con- 
templation to  constitute  a  General  Assembly, — 
the  delegates  to  which,  were  to  come  as  repre- 
sentatives from  the  Presbyteries,  not  from  the 
Synods — the  former  being  in  more  direct  re- 
lations with  the  people  or  church  members. 
There  is  not  a  self-perpetuating  judicature  in 
the  Church,  since  all  its  members  derive  their 
authority  as  such,  ultimately  from  the  church 
members  themselves,  with  whom  is  lodged  the 
(90) 


The  Presbyterian    Church.  91 

power  of  choosing  their  representatives,  as  it  is 
in  our  civil  government. 

Increase  of  the  Church. — A  brief  notice  of 
the  American  Presbyterian  Church  at  this  period 
may  interest  the  reader.  The  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  had  been  in  existence 
thirty  years,  and  it  was  now  to  be  divided  into 
four  Synods.  It  had  received  230  ministers  as  new 
members,  and  had  grown  from  eight  Presbyteries 
to  sixteen,  under  whose  care  were  420  churches ; 
of  these,  380  were  south  of  New  York  State, 
while  in  the  latter  were  forty.  The  great  body 
of  the  ministers  were  native  born  and  educated 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  The  others  came 
for  the  most  part  from  the  Presbyterian  church- 
es in  Scotland  and  North  Ireland.  The  Synod 
had  (1786)  under  its  control  churches  on  the 
Atlantic  slope  extending  from  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut to  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  also  be- 
yond the  Alleghanies  in  Western  Pennsylvania 
and  in  Middle  Kentucky. 

Four  Synods  organized. — The  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  according  to  its 
own  resolution,  was  divided  and  arranged  into 
four  Synods,  having  the  following  names  :  New 
York  and   New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Virginia, 


92  The  Presbyterian  Church 

and  the  Carolinas.  The  first  Synod  included 
the  Presbyteries  of  Suffolk,  Dutchess,  New  York, 
and  New  Brunswick ;  the  second,  those  of  Phil- 
adelphia, Lewes,  New  Castle,  Baltimore,  and 
Carlisle  ;  the  third,  those  of  Hanover,  Lexing- 
ton, Redstone,  and  Transylvania  ;  the  fourth, 
those  of  Abingdon,  Orange,  and  South  Carolina. 
The  third  or  Virginia  Synod  covered  by  far  the 
greatest  extent  of  territory,  as  it  alone  extended 
beyond  the  mountains,  including  the  Redstone 
Presbytery  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  Transylva- 
nia in  Kentucky. 

It  is  easily  seen  that  the  ministers  or  pastors 
of  these  churches,  scattered  over  so  extensive  a 
territory,  found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  attend 
the  annual  meetings  of  the  Synod,  as  required 
by  the  rule,  and  that  in  consequence  the  im- 
portant and  beneficial  influence  of  such  frequent 
and  fraternal  intercourse  was  much  diminished, 
but  by  having  four  Synods  such  advantage 
could  be  in  a  measure  retained,  as  the  ministers 
would  be  more  able  to  attend  the  meetings. 

Alterations  in  the  Constitution  being  required 
in  order  to  apply  to  the  new  condition  of  church 
affairs,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare 
such    Constitution.      The    committee    was    in- 


in  the   United  States.  93 

structed  "  to  examine  the  book  of  discipline  and 
government,  and  digest  such  a  system  as  they 
should  think  adapted  to  the  state  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  America."  It  was  also  ar- 
ranged that  this  draft  or  plan  of  the  committee 
should  be  printed  and  sent  down  to  the  Presby- 
teries, "  who  were  required  to  report  iit  writing 
their  observations  upon  it  at  the  next  meeting 
of  Synod."  The  committee  performed  this 
duty  and  sent  the  plan  to  the  Presbyteries,  and 
the  latter  presented  their  observations  to  the 
Synod  at  its  meeting  in  1787.  After  thorough 
discussion  and  adoption  of  amendments,  the 
plan  of  government  and  discipline  agreed  upon 
by  the  Synod  was  then  ordered  to  be  printed 
and  again  sent  to  the  Presbyteries  "  for  their 
consideration,  and  also  for  the  consideration  of 
the  churches  under  their  care,"  thus  recognizing 
the  propriety  of  consulting  the  church  mem- 
bers. This  plan  of  government  was  also  to  be 
reported  and  acted  upon  at  the  meeting  of  Syn- 
od the  following  year,  1788.  The  plan  having 
been  discussed  and  approved  by  the  Presbyte- 
ries and  churches  was  returned  to  the  Synod, 
which,  in  due  form,  ratified  the  former's  action, 
and  resolved  :  "  That  the  true  intent  and  mean- 


94  The  Presbyterian   Church 

ing  of  the  above  ratification  by  the  Synod  is 
that  the  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline 
and  -the  Confession  of  Faith,  as  now  ratified,  are 
to  continue  to  be  our  Constitution  and  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  practice  unalterably,  unless 
two-thirds  of  the  Presbyteries  shall  propose 
amendments,  and  these  shall  be  agreed  to  and 
enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  "  {Dr.  Hodge, 
p.  414). 

The  General  Assembly  constituted. — On 
the  adoption  of  the  plan,  the  Synod  ordered 
that  the  General  Assembly  about  to  be  called 
into  existence  should  consist  of  delegates  from 
the  several  Presbyteries  in  the  ratio  of  one  min- 
ister and  one  elder  for  every  six  members  or 
ministers  belonging  to  the  Presbytery.  The 
Synod  divided  itself  into  four,  in  accordance 
with  the  Act  of  1786,  as  already  noted.  Then 
it  was  ordered  :  *'  That  the  first  meeting  of  the 
General  Assembly  to  be  constituted  out  of  the 
above  Synods  be  held  at  1 1  A.M.  on  the  third 
Thursday  of  May,  1789,  in  the  Second  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia."  Dr. 
Witherspoon  was  appointed  "  to  open  the  As- 
sembly with  a  sermon,  and  to  preside  till  a  mod- 
erator was  chosen."     Its  organization  being  com- 


in  the   United  States.  95 

pleted,  the  Presbyteries  were  enjoined,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  rules  laid  down,  to  elect  and 
send  delegates  to  the  Assembly  which  was  to 
meet  in  1789. 

The  Address  to  President  Washington. — 
George  Washington  had  been  inaugurated  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  in  New  York  City 
only  a  few  weeks  previous  to  this  first  meeting 
of  the  General  Assembly  in  Philadelphia  in 
May,  1789.  In  this  connection  we  notice  two 
coincidences.  The  leading  men  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  and  the  leading  men  of  the  States 
had  been  moving  on  parallel  lines  in  the  effort 
to  secure  a  more  comprehensive  government 
both  for  the  Church  and  the  Nation.  Both 
went  into  operation  within  a  few  weeks  of  each 
other,  and  both  having  remained  virtually  un- 
changed for  a  century,  give  evidence  of  the  ex- 
cellences of  the  respective  systems,  which,  as 
such,  have  been  recognized  by  the  people  of 
the  Nation  and  by  the  members  of  the  Church. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the 
Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  an 
address  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
Its  chairman  was  the  celebrated  Rev.  Dr.  With- 
erspoon,   who  was   one   of   the  signers  of   the 


96  The  Presbyterian   Church 

Declaration  of  Independence,  and  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress  during  the 
troublous  times  of  the  Revolution,  and  was 
now  President  of  Princeton  College.  The  com- 
mittee's report  was  quite  lengthy,  but  being 
appropriate  in  terms  and  in  tone,  it  was  re- 
ceived and  approved  by  the  Assembly,  who 
directed  the  presentation  to  be  made.  After 
referring  to  Washington's  past  career  as  a  sol- 
dier, a  patriot,  and  a  statesman  ;  to  his  volun- 
tary retirement  from  public  affairs  to  the  longed- 
for  rest  and  quiet  of  private  life,  and  especially 
to  his  self-denial  in  the  acceptance  of  the  ofifice 
of  President,  at  the  unanimous  call  of  the  peo- 
ple, they  say  :  "A  man  more  ambitious  of  fame, 
or  less  devoted  to  his  country,  would  have  re- 
fused an  office  in  which  his  honors  could  not  be 

augmented We  are  happy  that  God  has 

inclined  your  heart  to  give  yourself  once  more 
to  the  public.  But  we  derive  a  presage  even 
more  flattering  from  the  piety  of  your  character. 
Public  virtue  is  the  most  certain  means  of  pub- 
lic felicity,  and  religion  is  the  surest  basis  of 
virtue.  We  therefore  esteem  it  a  peculiar  hap- 
piness to  behold  in  our  Chief  Magistrate  a 
steady,  uniform,  avowed  friend  of  the  Christian 


in  the   United  States.  97 

religion,  and  who  on  the  most  pubHc  and  sol- 
emn occasions  devoutly  acknowledges  the  gov- 
ernment of  Divine  Providence."  They  define 
also  their  own  position,  saying  :  ''  We  shall  con- 
sider ourselves  as  doing  an  acceptable  service  to 
God  in  our  profession  when  we  contribute  to 
render  men  sober,  honest,  and  industrious  citi- 
zens, and  the  obedient  subjects  of  a  lawful  gov- 
ernment." They  close  with  the  prayer  that 
God  would  prolong  his  valuable  life  and  con- 
tinue him  a  blessing  to  his  country.  To  this 
address  Washington  replied  in  appropriate  terms, 
acknowledging  his  gratification  at  their  good- 
will, and  coinciding  with  them  in  declaring  his 
"  dependence  upon  Heaven  as  the  source  of  all 
public  and  private  blessings,"  and  that  "  piety, 
philanthropy,  honesty,  industry,  and  economy 
seem,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human  affairs, 
particularly  necessary  for  advancing  and  con- 
firming the  happiness  of  the  country."  He 
closes  by  thanking  the  Assembly  for  their  ef- 
forts *'  to  render  men  sober,  honest,  and  good 
citizens,  and  the  obedient  subjects  of  a  lawful 
government,"  and  for  their  prayers  for  the  coun- 
try and  for  himself. 


VII. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  booklet  to 
trace  fully  the  growth  and  influence  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  since  the  time  when  its  first 
General  Assembly  was  constituted.  It  has  ad- 
vanced in  a  remarkable  and  substantial  manner  ; 
kept  in  the  front  rank  with  the  progress  of  the 
country ;  has,  with  untiring  zeal,  promoted  the 
education  of  all  classes,  and  raised  higher  and 
higher  the  standard  of  theological  learning ;  has 
enlisted  the  sympathies  of  the  private  members 
of  the  Church  and  imbued  them  with  the  spirit 
of  benevolence ;  witness  their  endowments  of 
institutions  of  learning,  and  their  ordinary  liberal 
contributions,  with  which  they  have  nobly  sus- 
tained the  ministry  in  their  efforts  to  bring  their 
whole  land  under  the  influence  of  a  Christian- 
ized civilization.  Since  that  time  it  has  formed 
within  its  own  Church  limits  a  number  of  asso- 
ciations, such  as  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Societies,  organized  for  evangelical  purposes, 
(98) 


The  Presbyter^ian    Church.  99 

and  to  combine  and  more  effectively  utilize  the 
benevolences  of  the  Church  members ;  mean* 
while,  it  has  also  availed  itself  of  the  privilege 
of  aiding  the  cause  of  the  Saviour,  through  the 
medium  of  societies  more  general  in  their  char- 
acter, such  as  the  Bible,  Tract,  etc.  These  be- 
nevolences have  not  been  confined  to  our  own 
country  alone,  but  have  passed  beyond  to  for- 
eign and  heathen  lands. 

Doctrinal  Truth  guarded. — Doctrinal  truth, 
as  embodied  in  its  standards,  has  been  carefully 
guarded  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  ever  since 
1729,  when  the  Adopting  Act  (page  'j'j')  was 
agreed  upon  as  a  rule,  by  which  examinations, 
thenceforth,  were  required  as  to  doctrine  of  the 
ministers  desiring  admission  to  the  Church,  as 
well  as  of  their  own  licentiates.  This  rule  has 
been  virtually  in  force  and  carried  out  for  one 
hundred  and  sixty  years.  Afterward,  in  1788, 
when  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
as  we  have  just  seen,  took  measures  to  organize 
a  General  Assembly  for  the  entire  Church,  they 
also,  as  a  summary  of  Christian  doctrine  for  the 
same,  ''  ratified  and  adopted  the  Larger  Cate- 
chism ";  this  summary  has  been  in  force  in  the 
Church  down  to  the  present  time.     These  two 


lOO  The  Presbyterian   CJmrch 

historical  facts  may  account  for  one  peculiarity 
that  has  always  been  present  in  the  several 
divisions  and  reunions  that  have  occurred  in 
times  past  within  the  Presbyterian  Church — not 
07ie  of  them  has  been  on  distinctively  doctrinal 
grounds ;  other  causes  have  intervened.  It  is 
true  there  have  been  within  the  last  half  century 
one  or  two  instances  in  the  Church,  in  which 
individual  ministers  have  been  charged  in  regu- 
lar form  before  their  Presbyteries  with  holding 
doctrines  inconsistent  with  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  But  these  exceptions  did  not  impugn 
the  doctrinal  faith  of  the  Church  itself.  The 
charges  appear  to  have  grown  out  of  misappre- 
hensions of  the  real  views  of  these  good  and 
eminent  men. 

The  Reunion  of  1871. — During  these  several 
separations  both  parties  adhered  loyally  to  the 
Bible,  to  the  Westminster  Catechism,  and  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  claiming  the  summary  of 
Bible  doctrine  therein  contained  as  equally  their 
own.  Thus  when  the  reunions  took  place,  there 
was  no  necessity  for  interposing  questions  in  re- 
spect to  the  orthodoxy  of  either  party.  In  the 
division  that  occurred  in  1837,  the  outgrowth  in 
the  main  of  the  Plan  of  Union  (1801)  {Gillette 


in  the   United  States,  loi 

vol.  i.,  pp.  393-396),  both  Assemblies,  after  the 
separation,  adhered  to  the  same  doctrinal  stand- 
ards ;  occupied  the  same  territorial  ground,  side 
by  side,  and  each  Assembly  claimed  the  same 
name,  and  this  continued  till  they  were  again 
united  (1871)  on  the  old  basis. 

The  salutary  effect  of  this  care  in  preserving 
in  their  purity  the  doctrinal  standards  of  that 
Church,  is  manifested  in  the  uniformity  with 
which  the  essential  truths  of  the  Gospel  are,  and 
ever  have  been,  preached  by  its  ministers  in 
good  and  regular  standing.  Though,  as  we  have 
seen  in  relation  to  its  own  doctrines  and  polity, 
the  Presbyterian  Church  is  exceedingly  strict,  yet 
it  is  liberal  toward  other  evangelical  denomina- 
tions, and  deems  as  valid  their  rite  of  baptism 
in  whatever  form  administered,  and  also  recog- 
nizes the  validity  of  their  ordaining  men  to  the 
sacred  office,  whether  of  one  order  or  of  three. 

A  prospective  Reunion. — We  have,  in  this 
booklet,  ver>^  briefly  noticed  the  divisions  and 
reunions  of  Synods  and  General  Assemblies 
that  have  already  occurred  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  remarkable  fact  that  these 
divisions  grew  out  of  causes  extraneous  to  its 
doctrinal  standards.     The  Church  has  in  pros- 


I02  The  P7'esbyteiia7i   Chicrch 

pect,  in  1888,  another  reunion — that  with  the 
Southern  branch.  This  reunion,  for  numerous 
reasons,  will  far  transcend  in  importance  any- 
other  in  its  history,  as  the  conditions  under 
which  it  will  be  consummated  are,  in  many  re- 
spects, far  different  from  those  under  which  the 
previous  ones  were  made.  We  intend  to  leave 
to  the  ministry  and  leaders  and  writers  in  the 
Church  to  treat  of  the  spiritual  blessings  that 
under  the  providence  of  God  may  accrue  to  the 
whole  Church  when  thus  united,  but  rather  con- 
fine ourselves  to  a  somewhat  different  but  col- 
lateral phase  of  the  subject. 

A  Christianized  Patriotism. — We  will,  there- 
fore, speak  only  of  those  advantages  that  in  the 
future  may  be  the  outgrowth  of  the  free  and 
untrammeled  extension  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  Union,  wherein,  with  the  Divine  blessing,  it 
will  have  facilities  for  applying  its  principles  in 
developing  a  Christianized  patriotism.  A  pa- 
triotism that  will  have  an  eye  not  only  to  the 
material  progress  of  the  country,  but  to  the 
promotion  of  a  practical  union  of  national  feel- 
ing and  sympathy  between  the  people  of  every 
section ;  if  they  all  practice  the  precepts  of  the 


hi  the   United  States.  lOj 

golden  rule.  This  type  of  patriotism  includes 
an  element  unknown  to  the  patriots  of  Greece 
and  Rome.  The  latter  looked  no  further  than 
to  promote  the  public  safety  and  welfare,  but 
only  in  a  material  point  of  view — for  when  did 
their  leading  men  make  an  effort  to  elevate  the 
people  morally  ?  Christianity  adds  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  a  principle  that  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  churches  of  every  denomination  can 
be  applied  specially  to  our  own  household — the 
American  people.  There  never  has  been  a  pe- 
riod so  auspicious  for  the  reunion  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  spirit  and  in  fact,  as  at  the 
present  time.  Slavery  has  passed  away,  for 
which  blessing  millions  who  once  thought  other- 
wise, are  thankful,  while  in  the  section  where  it 
once  existed,  and  where,  under  its  influence, 
labor  was  deemed  degrading  to  a  certain  class, 
there,  to-day,  labor  by  every  one  is  becoming 
more  and  more  respectable.  This  sentiment 
ere  long  will  be  all-pervading  in  that  portion  of 
our  country,  and  it  will  tell  immensely  on  its 
future  material  progress,  and  indirectly  upon 
the  prosperity  of  the  entire  Union. 

A  Church  Government,  Republican  in  Form 
— The  government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 


I04  TJie  Presbytei'iaii   Church 

is  arranged  so  as  to  give  the  people — the  church 
members — an  equal  share  in  its  administration, 
and  which  right  is  carefully  guarded.  In  ac- 
cordance with  the  rule,  a  minister  is  the  moder- 
ator in  the  sessions  of  all  the  judicatures,  and 
who  has  no  vote  except  in  the  case  of  a  tie  ;  and, 
also,  the  rule  that  each  pastor  or  minister  in  all 
the  judicatures,  except  the  church  session,  is 
accompanied  by  an  elder,  and,  likewise,  if  a 
church  is  without  a  pastor  it  can  send  an  elder 
as  its  representative  to  the  Presbytery  or  the 
Synod.  In  the  application  of  these  rules  the 
rights  of  the  elders  and  of  their  constituents — 
church  members — are  specially  recognized  and 
guarded.  The  government  of  the  Church  is 
strictly  republican  in  its  form ;  the  people  or 
church  members  having  the  right  to  choose 
their  own  representatives,  be  they  pastors  or 
elders,  as  in  our  secular  governments — State  and 
National — the  people  elect  their  own  represent- 
atives to  the  Legislatures  or  to  Congress ;  thus 
in  this  respect  the  government  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  is  remarkably  consistent  with  those 
of  the  separate  States  and  of  the  Nation.  It 
may  be  noted  in  passing,  that  this  represent- 
ative mode  of  government  was  introduced  and 


in  the   United  States.  105 

practiced  in  that  Church  in  colonial  times,  com- 
mencing in  1705. 

Ex  officio  Members. — In  the  meetings  of 
the  judicatures  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
there  are,  strictly,  no  ex  officio  members.  The 
only  one  that  approaches  that  position  is  the 
moderator  of  a  previous  Assembly,  who,  by  the 
rule,  ''  if  present,"  preaches  an  opening  sermon 
and  presides  till  a  new  moderator  is  chosen.  In 
truth,  his  presence  depends  on  a  contingency, 
because  his  Presbytery  may  not  send  him  as 
their  delegate.  History  demonstrates  that  ex 
officio  or  hereditary  members  of  church  judica- 
tures or  of  parliaments — being  less  in  direct 
sympathy  with  the  church  members  or  with  the 
people  at  large — are  the  persistent  opponents  of 
changes  and  measures  that  are  designed  to  re- 
sult in  reforms,  and  to  which  they  seldom  give 
their  sanction  unless  compelled  by  popular 
pressure ;  much  less  do  they  lead  in  such  move- 
ments. The  ex  officio  members  of  a  church  con- 
vention recently  refused  to  sanction  the  ordi- 
nary courtesy  of  exchanging  fraternal  messages 
with  the  representatives  of  an  evangelical  sister 
denomination,  and  which  were  assembled  in  the 
same   city,  after  the  lower  house  had  passed, 


io6  The  Presbyterian   Church 

almost   unanimously,  resolutions  to  send  such 
Christian  greetings. 

Voting  by  Orders. — The  system  of  voting  by 
orders  in  church  judicatures  seems  to  be  unfair, 
unless  on  the  supposition  that  the  members  of 
the  higher  order  have  in  the  aggregate  as  much 
brains  and  intelligence  as  the  aggregate  of  the 
same  qualifications  belonging  to  the  members 
of  the  lower.  The  higher  house  or  order  has  in 
number  fewer  members,  but  they  are  ex  officio  ; 
the  lower  has  a  greater  number,  but  who  are 
presumed  to  be  equally  educated.  The  result 
of  such  rule  is,  that  a  vote  in  the  higher  order 
is  worth  from  two  to  three  times  as  much  as 
one  in  the  lower — its  value  being  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  members  respectively  present 
in  each  order.  Nor  is  the  unfairness  of  voting 
by  orders  obviated,  when  it  depends  upon  the 
contingency  of  a  limited  minority  of  either  or 
der,  demanding  that  the  vote  should  be  by  or- 
ders. Such  rule  is  very  liable  to  be  abused.  It 
may  be  known,  or  supposed,  that  one  order  is  in 
favor  of  a  certain  measure,  while  the  other  is  not ; 
the  latter,  by  using  the  prerogative  of  a  limited 
minority,  can  frustrate  a  full  expression  of  opin- 
ion of  both  orders  by  preventing  a  joint  vote. 


in  the   United  States. 


107 


The  mode  of  constituting  the  Assembly  leaves 
the  way  open  from  year  to  year  for  a  change  in 
its  membership,  as  it  does  not  adjourn  to  meet 
the  following  year,  but  dissolves^  while  the 
choice  and  election  of  individual  delegates  to 
the  next  Assembly  depend  upon  the  will  of  the 
Presbyteries.  The  delegates,  therefore,  come 
fresh  from  the  people  or  church  members — a 
principle  recognized  in  constituting  the  Lower 
House  of  Congress  and  the  House  of  Commons 
in  England,  hence  the  propriety  of  the  rule 
that  financial  measures,  in  which  the  people  are 
specially  interested,  must  originate  respectively 
in  these  two  Houses. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Despotism. — All  the 
Protestant  denominations  act  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  civil  institutions  of  the 
land  when  they  recognize  the  right  of  the  laity 
to  have  a  share  in  the  management  of  their  own 
church  affairs.  In  this  respect  the  government 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  in  marked  con- 
trast, inasmuch  as  the  rule  is  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  priests,  the  laity  being  rigorously 
excluded.  By  this  system  the  intelligent  and 
representative  lay  members  of  that  communion 
have  no  opportunity,  through  being  members  of 


io8  The  Presbyteria7i  Church, 

church  judicatures,  for  cultivating  fraternal  and 
Christian  intercourse  with  their  fellow-members 
throughout  the  Union.  On  the  contrary,  the 
government  of  that  Church  is  an  ecclesiastical 
despotism ;  it  ignores  the  rights  of  its  own  lay 
members,  and  is  antagonistic  to  the  spirit  of 
our  political  institutions — State  and  National. 


VIII. 

THE   PARITY   OF   THE   CLERGY. 

There  is  a  well-defined  opinion  abroad  that 
the  parity  of  the  clergy  has  an  unusual  and  far- 
reaching  influence  upon  the  ministry  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  inasmuch  as  that  relation 
to  their  brethren  impresses  the  fact  on  each  one, 
that  upon  him  rests  an  equal  share  of  responsi- 
bility in  respect  to  what  is  done  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  religious  progress  of  the  country, 
and  also  of  his  own  church  specially.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  form  of  government  every  minis- 
ter has  a  share  in  directing  the  affairs  of  the 
Church,  he  being  by  right  a  legislator  and  over- 
seer, a  member  of  the  Presbytery,  and  also  of 
the  Synod,  and  may  be  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Assembly,  where  meet  ministers  and 
elders,  representatives  from  the  entire  Church 
in  the  United  States.  The  latter  come  together 
on  an  equality,  to  confer  on  questions  pertain- 
ing to  the  progress  of  religion  in  the  Church 

and  of  its  extension  in  the  land ;  they  mingle  in 

(109) 


no  The  Presbyterian   Church 

sympathy  with  each  other  as  brethren,  and  with- 
out a  shade  of  a  clerical  caste  feeling.  No  mem- 
ber can  divest  himself  of  the  responsibiHty  as  a 
minister  of  the  Church.  He  is  conscious  of  this 
much  more  than  if  he  was  under  an  ecclesiastical 
superior,  whom  he  was  bound  to  obey,  or  to 
whose  wishes  he  must  tacitly  consent.  On  the 
other  hand,  thus  acting  for  himself,  and  on  an 
equality,  ecclesiastically,  with  his  fellows,  gives 
him  self-reliance,  broadens  his  views  and  strength- 
ens his  character. 

Ministerial  Responsibility. — The  parity  of 
the  ministry,  therefore,  leads  each  of  its  mem- 
bers to  recognize  the  responsibility  of  his  indi- 
vidual position,  that  it  is  incumbent  upon  him 
to  study  the  current  questions  of  his  time,  which 
pertain  to  the  domain  of  pure  religion  and  mor- 
als, as  well  as  those  which  partake  of  both  an 
economical  and  moral  character,  such  as  to-day 
that  of  temperance,  and  the  complex  relations 
of  capital  and  labor.  In  the  four  grades  of  judi- 
catures of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  each  one  in 
its  sphere  has  legislative  authority,  while  in  the 
three  lower  the  privilege  is  accorded  of  appeal- 
ing, in  case  of  grievance,  to  the  next  higher.  It 
is  not  strange,  under  the  circumstances,  that  the 


in  the   United  States.  1 1 1 

ministry  of  a  church  whose  mode  of  government 
is  so  just  to  all  its  members,  and  which  without 
impairing  its  efificiency  can  be  so  extended  as 
to  grasp  a  continent,  should  be  stimulated  to 
study  the  questions  of  the  day  and  thus  acquire 
comprehensive  views  of  their  responsibility  in 
the  premises.  The  Presbyterian  form  of  church 
government  in  its  construction  is  so  comprehen- 
sive and  elastic  that  its  clergymen  and  leading 
minds  are  under  no  necessity  of  resorting  to 
abnormal  "  Church  Congresses  "  or  ''  Conven- 
tions," in  order  to  discuss  questions  that  agitate 
the  public  mind,  and  which  combine  the  ele- 
ments of  ethics,  education,  temperance,  and 
other  topics  that  may  have  a  moral  bearing. 
Cognizance  of  such  questions,  if  deemed  expedi- 
ent, can  be  normally  taken  in  the  meetings  of 
the  Church  judicatures,  where  they  can  be  dis- 
cussed, and  in  relation  to  them,  resolutions 
adopted — such  action  is,  of  course,  not  legisla- 
tive, but  advisory  in  character.  The  ministers 
deem  it  a  duty  to  be  prepared  when  called  upon 
to  discuss  thoroughly  and  vote  intelligently 
upon  the  best  measures  to  extend  the  blessings 
of  the  Gospel  throughout  the  land,  thus  elevat- 
ing the  whole  people  to  a  still  higher  plane  of 


112  The  Presbyterian    Church 

Christian  purity  and  love  of  country — a  patriot- 
ism based  upon  the  benign  principles  of  Christi- 
anity. 

Pastorates  may  be  long. — There  is  also  pres- 
ent another  element  that  stimulates  the  edu- 
cated and  conscientious  pastor  to  continuous 
exertion,  and  which,  to  him,  is  full  of  encourage- 
ment— it  is  that  the  pastorate  may  be  long ;  its 
length  not  being  dependent  upon  another's  will 
or  an  arbitrary  church  rule.  The  pastorate  is 
continued  at  the  combined  pleasure  of  the  pastor 
and  the  church  members  and  congregation  whom 
he  serves.  The  dissolution  of  the  relation  or  its 
assumption,  does  not  depend  upon  the  decision 
of  an  ecclesiastical  superior,  who  may  make  the 
appointment  or  limit  its  continuance,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  upon  an  invitation  given  by  the 
congregation  and  members  of  an  individual 
church  to  a  clergyman  to  become  their  pastor, 
and  his  acceptance  of  the  same,  and  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  it  is  to  continue  during  the 
pleasure  of  both  parties  to  the  contract.  It  is 
consistent  with  this  feature  of  the  rule,  that  a 
minister  may  be  called  from  one  congregation  or 
church  to  another;  but  whether  he  accepts  or 
not,  remains  entirely  with  himself.     Should  it 


in  the    United  States.  113 

be  evident  that  the  call  is  to  a  field  of  greater 
usefulness,  then,  all  things  being  equal,  it  be- 
comes clearly  his  duty  to  accept,  as  he  can  thus 
promote  more  extensively  the  interests  of  the 
Church  at  large.  When  the  path  of  duty  is  not 
sufficiently  clear  to  him  or  his  congregation  or 
to  both,  the  matter  is  often  mutually  referred  to 
the  Presbytery  for  advice. 

Advantages  gained.  —  Lengthy  pastorates 
enable  the  minister  to  become  familiarly  ac- 
quainted with  the  members  of  his  church  and 
their  families.  This  advantage  could  not  be  at- 
tained if  he  were  liable  to  be  transferred  to 
another  field,  there  to  commence  an  acquaint- 
ance with  a  congregation  composed  of  strangers. 
Meanwhile  the  influence  he  had  acquired  over 
the  youth  and  people  of  the  former  congrega- 
tion is  broken  off  or  frittered  away,  inasmuch  as 
from  the  first  neither  party  could  have  a  deep 
and  enduring  interest  in  each  other  because  of 
the  influence  exerted  by  the  fact  that  the  con- 
nection between  them  as  pastor  and  people 
must  ere  long  be  broken  by  an  arbitrary  rule. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  source  of  great  encouragement 
to  an  educated  pastor  that  he  is  not  subject  to 
such  rule,  but,  on  the  contrary,  without  inter- 


114  The  Fi'esbyteriaii    Church 

ruption  he  can  continue  his  labors  with  the  hope 
of  success,  especially  in  training  the  youth  of 
his  congregation.     He,  himself,  by  ample  study, 
will  improve  in  every  accomplishment  that  per- 
tains  properly   to    his    office.     He    knows    his 
people ;    he   learns  their  wants,   and    in   conse- 
quence he  is  the  better  able  to  judge  what  mode 
of   instruction   will   produce   the   best    results. 
People  thus  schooled  appreciate  the  teaching. 
The  more  thoroughly  educated  is  the  minister, 
the  more  equipped  is  he  for  a  long  pastorate. 
His  mind  being  trained,  he  can  preach  sermons 
well   prepared,  and   imbued   with   freshness  of 
thought ;  he  keeps  up  with  the  times,  and  notes 
the  discoveries  that  throw  light  upon  the  study 
of  the  Bible  ;  nor  does  he  ignore  the  progress  of 
the  age  in  science,  and  its  misapplication  when 
it  is  made  to  antagonize  the  Christian  system ; 
nor  the  industrial   advances  of  various  kinds ; 
neither  does  he  fail  to  recognize  the  influence  of 
Christian  ideas  in  his  own  country  nor  in  other 
lands.     Thus  favored  by  his  opportunities    he 
gradually  elevates  his  people  to  a  higher  plane 
of  general  intelligence  ;  the  latter  is  not  limited 
to  Christian  knowledge  alone,  but  takes  in  the 
history  of  the  past  and  the  current  events  of  the 


in  the   United  States.  1 1 5 

present.  The  careful  education  of  clergymen 
trains  their  minds  to  think,  and  thus  they  are 
able  to  give  instruction  to  their  congregations 
from  year  to  year,  as  they  study  earnestly  to 
supply  the  ever  increasing  wants — spiritual  or 
otherwise — of  an  intelligent  people. 

Biblical  Training. — The  effect  of  an  educated 
ministry  in  pastorates  whose  lengths  are  depend- 
ent upon  the  combined  will  of  the  church  mem- 
bers and  the  pastor  himself,  is  seen  in  the  re- 
markable intelligence  in  respect  to  practical  bib- 
lical knowledge,  of  the  private  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  Under  the  systematic 
training  of  children  and  families  that  obtains  in 
that  denomination,  its  members  are  continually 
rising  to  a  higher  plane  of  general  religious  in- 
telligence ;  an  influence  that  extends  to  the 
generation  following.  This  feature  of  progress 
in  the  knowledge  of  biblical  truths  thus  acquired 
by  the  church  members  themselves,  makes  it 
essential  for  the  pastor  in  the  preparation  for 
his  pulpit,  not  to  relax  his  efforts  to  occupy  an 
advanced  position,  in  order  to  instruct  a  con- 
gregation whose  members  are  intelligent  and 
accustomed  to  study  the  Bible  as  a  whole ;  not 
being  tempted  to  learn  its  truths  only  from  cer- 


Ii6         The  Presbyterian   Church, 

tain  prescribed  lessons.  The  study  of  the  whole 
Bible  is  also  promoted  by  the  mode  in  which  it 
is  read  in  the  worshiping  assembly,  as  the  por- 
tions or  chapters  selected  can  be  so  chosen  as  to 
have  a  bearing  on  the  special  religious,  wants  or 
affairs  of  the  time ;  not  being  restricted  to  the 
lesson  for  the  day,  be  it  appropriate  or  not  un- 
der the  circumstances.  The  fact  that  it  is  in- 
cumbent upon  the  pastor  to  select  appropriate 
portions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  be  read  in 
the  Sabbath  services,  also  stimulates  him  to  a 
more  diligent  study  of  the  inspired  Word. 


IX. 

TWO    FORCES   MADE   AVAILABLE. 

Among  the  manifold  good  influences  this  re- 
union of  1888  can  exert  in  a  rehgious  point  of 
view,  will  be  the  utilization  of  all  the  moral  and 
material  forces  in  the  united  Church,  which,  ow- 
ing to  the  separation,  have  hitherto  not  been 
fully  available.  The  Northern  portion  of  the 
Church  has  at  present  more  means  arising  from 
their  greater  success  in  manufacturing  industries 
and  in  commercial  pursuits,  and  in  such  propor- 
tion would  they  aid  the  churches  of  their  South- 
ern brethren.  Says  an  intelligent  Southern 
Christian  gentleman  :  "  The  grand  reason  in  fa- 
vor of  organic  union,  is  that  the  field  for  mission- 
ary work  in  the  South  is  so  vast,  and  its  need  so 
great,  that  the  energies  and  means  of  the  whole 
Church  ought  to  be  employed  to  meet  the  calls 
of  the  hour."  What  intelligent  American  has 
not  learned  of  the  bitterness  of  feeling  that 
formerly  existed  in  relation  to  the  mixed  ques- 
tion of  slavery? — and  ever  since  that  curse  has 

(117) 


Ii8  The  Presbyterian   Church 

been  removed,  there  have  been  other  vexed 
questions  of  a  political  character — the  debris  of 
slavery — that  have  had  a  baneful  influence  upon 
the  spirituality  of  the  Church.  These  impedi- 
ments being  removed,  will  not  the  reunion  in- 
duce a  higher  tone  of  Christian  and  national 
feeling  ?  It  is  hoped  that  in  the  reunited  Pres- 
byterian Church,  these  former  prejudices  will 
soon  be  heard  no  more  forever,  as  a  new  and 
almost  matured  generation  are  entering  upon 
their  active  duties  as  Christians  and  citizens, 
and  who — in  the  North  as  well  as  in  the  South 
— have  only  hearsay  prejudice  to  overcome,  while 
the  impetus  of  the  onward  movements  in  Chris- 
tian and  industrial  progress  will  sweep  such 
prejudices  to  oblivion  by  a  strong  current  of 
patriotic  public  opinion.  Unless  Christians 
fail  in  their  duty,  there  is  in  prospect  an  ad- 
vance in  the  religious  progress  of  the  united 
Church,  which  will  promote,  as  it  always  does, 
a  material  prosperity,  that  from  the  nature  of 
the  case  could  never  before  have  occurred  to 
such  an  extent. 

Blending  the  elements,  Clerical  and  Lay. — 
The  parity  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  has  also 
in  it  an  element  which  of  itself  produces  among 


in  the   United  States. 


119 


them  an  unusually  strong  feeling  of  Christian 
brotherhood,  as  they  meet  on  all  occasions  on 
an  equality  and  with  equal  responsibility,  while 
in  performing  the  duties  of  their  ministerial  of- 
fice, they  alike  participate  in  managing  the  af- 
fairs of  the  entire  Church.  In  another  respect 
is  manifested  the  expediency  and  justice  of 
blending  the  lay  element  equally  with  the  cleri- 
cal in  Church  government.  It  is  proper  and 
consistent  that  in  the  judicatures,  and  in  the 
management  of  the  institutions  of  the  Church, 
that  the  laity  who  furnish  the  funds  for  all  its 
benevolences,  should  have  a  voice  in  their  dis- 
bursement. The  ministry  avails  itself  of  the 
contributions  of  the  laity  and  often  calls  to  its 
aid  in  financial  affairs  the  assistance  of  lay  mem- 
bers who  have  experience  in  business  transac- 
tions. When  appropriations  of  money  are  voted 
from  time  to  time  by  the  General  Assembly  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  carrying  on  the  enter- 
prises of  the  Church,  such  as  missions  at  home 
and  abroad,  the  lay  members  participate  equally 
in  the  decision,  both  as  to  the  amount  to  be 
raised,  and  in  the  special  appropriations  in 
which  the  money  is  to  be  disbursed.  Does  not 
the  practical  influence  of  this  combination  of 


120         The  Pi'esbyteri.in   Church 

the  ministers  and  laity — the  church  members — 
induce  the  unusual  interest  that  the  latter  take 
in  the  benevolent  operations  of  the  Church  ? 

Fraternal  Intercourse  promoted. — The  sys- 
tem of  church  government  which  requires  fre- 
quent meetings  of  its  judicatures,  secures  an  unu- 
sually large  range  of  acquaintance  and  fraternal 
intercourse,  both  between  the  ministers  them- 
selves and  the  laity — the  church  members — 
whose  direct  representatives,  the  elders,  meet 
with  the  former  on  an  equality,  while  the  influ- 
ence of  such  fraternal  intercourse  extends 
throughout  the  land.  We  venture  the  asser- 
tion that  the  members  of  no  other  denomina- 
tion of  Christians  in  the  Union  have  so  much 
heartfelt  sympathy  with  each  other  as  those  of 
the  Presbyterian.  This  is  not  without  a  cause. 
Could  this  kind'y  feeling  and  acquaintance  exist 
to  such  an  extent  if  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods 
met  less  often,  and  if  the  General  Assembly  was 
differently  constituted  and  met  only  once  in 
three  or  four  years  ? 

Ignoring  State  Lines. — Is  there  not,  how- 
ever, danger  in  confining  Presbyteries  and  Syn- 
ods within  State  lines  of  introducing  a  provin- 
cial system  that   would  somewhat   limit   effort 


in  the   United  States.  121 

and  influence  only  to  within  such  specified 
boundaries  ?  In  a  nation  constituted  as  we  are, 
it  would  seem  better  for  the  furtherance  of 
Christian  brotherhood,  and  of  enkindHng  kindly 
and  patriotic  sympathy  among  the  people  of 
different  sections,  for  church  judicatures  to  ig- 
nore State  lines.  Should  not  the  limits  of 
Presbyteries  and  Synods  be  arranged  for  con- 
venience of  attendance  and  for  mutual  benefit 
rather  than  be  cramped  in  a  sort  of  iron  frame- 
work by  State  lines  ?  Would  it  not  have  a 
harmonizing  influence  upon  the  church  mem- 
bers and  their  pastors  if  the  boundaries  of  the 
Presbyteries  and  Synods  that  border  on  the  old 
line,  known  as  "  Mason  and  Dixon,"  should 
henceforth  overlap  that  line  ?  If  the  Church 
limits  the  boundaries  of  Presbyteries  and  Syn- 
ods by  State  lines  only,  will  there  not  follow,  as 
has  been  proposed,  '*  Provincial  Assemblies  "  ? 
Who  can  tell  where  this  disintegration  would 
end  ?  Would  it  be  when  there  were  three  or 
four,  as  has  been  suggested,  or  perhaps  a  dozen  ? 
Such  divisions  would  surely  diminish  the  pres- 
ent fraternal  interest  that  Presbyterian  church 
members  entertain  for  their  brethren  throughout 
the  whole  land.     Some  of  these  "Assemblies" 


122  The  Pr-esbyterian   Church 

would  occupy  territory  that  was  rich  in  wealth, 
in  population,  and  in  all  the  appliances  of  edu- 
cation ;  others  would  be  poor  in  this  world's 
goods,  poor  in  the  facilities  of  education,  and, 
comparatively,  their  people  few  in  number. 
For  instance,  it  has  been  suggested  to  have  "A 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
west  of  the  Mississippi."  Suppose  that  sugges- 
tion was  carried  out.  That  ''Assembly"  would 
cover  a  large  territory  with,  in  the  main,  a  com- 
paratively scattered  population  ;  it  would  be 
greatly  limited  in  the  means  to  carry  on  evan- 
gelical work  within  its  own  boundaries,  and 
equally  straitened  in  its  means  of  education. 
Could  we  expect  the  churches  east  of  the  Great 
River  to  have  as  much  interest  in  their  brethren 
on  the  west  side  as  if  they  were  in  connection 
with  a  General  Assembly  that  was  national  in  its 
character  ?  It  is  impossible  that  there  could  be  as 
strong  bonds  of  sympathy  between  the  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  thus  broken  up,  as 
there  would  be  if  united  under  only  one  General 
Assembly.  The  American  people,  for  obvious 
reasons,  have  resolved  to  be  one  Nation — pure 
and  simple — and  it  is  essential  that  the  sympa- 
thies of  its  citizens  should  be  with  their  fellows 


in  the   United  States.  123 

in  all  sections  of  the  vast  territory  of  the  nation, 
and  the  church  members  in  the  various  denom- 
inations can  do  much  in  promoting  this  blended 
feeling  of  love  for  their  brethren  with  that  for 
their  country.  Previous  to  the  civil  war  the 
divisions  in  the  churches,  occasioned  by  slavery, 
disturbed  greatly  the  fraternal  relations  of  the 
church  members  of  the  three  denominations 
whose  supreme  judicatures  are  composed  of 
delegates  from  the  entire  Union.  A  lower  tone 
of  Christian  feeling  thus  induced  had  its  share 
in  bringing  on  that  conflict. 

National  Church  Judicatures. — Of  ecclesias- 
tical bodies  in  the  United  States,  the  Episcopal, 
the  Methodist,  and  the  Presbyterian  are  the 
only  ones  that  have  judicatures  to  which  come 
delegates  from  all  portions  of  the  Union.  The 
Episcopal  General  Convention  meets  once  in 
three  years  ;  the  Methodist  General  Conference 
once  in  four,  and  the  Presbyterian  General  As- 
sembly every  year.  In  consequence  of  this  fea- 
ture of  their  respective  systems  of  government, 
these  three  denominations  have  greater  facilities 
than  others  for  bringing  about  a  unity  of  Chris- 
tian love  among  the  members  of  their  own 
churches  throughout  the  land,  and  also  of  indi- 


124         The  P^^esbyterian   Church. 

rectly  promoting  outside  their  own  ranks  a  fel- 
lowship similar  in  its  character,  but  in  the  form 
of  a  Christianized  patriotism,  among  the  people 
of  the  whole  Nation,  thus  neutralizing  the  evil 
influence  of  misguided  men  who  may  endeavor 
to  prejudice  one  section  of  the  country  against 
another. 


X. 


NATIONAL   AND    MUTUAL    GOOD-WILL 
PROMOTED. 

The  interests  of  the  church  people  of  the 
various  denominations  should  be  blended  with 
those  of  the  whole  Nation  and  the  sentiment  of 
patriotism  so  absorbing  as  to  promote  mutual 
good-will  among  the  people  throughout  the 
land.  There  must  be  something  wrong  when 
the  spirituality  of  an  individual  congregation  or 
church  is  not  increased  by  the  frequent  inter- 
course between  its  members.  Similar  means 
produce  similar  results,  and  why  may  not  the 
frequent  coming  together  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union  of  the  representative  men  of  any  Chris- 
tian denomination  enhance  their  brotherly  love 
and  indirectly  increase  their  patriotism  ?  It  is 
unfortunate  that  many  of  our  public  men  seem 
to  place  the  harmony  of  the  Union  upon  a  mere 
material  basis,  apparently  without  reference  to 
moral  power,  when  the  true  foundation  ought  to 
rest  upon  the  combination  of  the  two  forces — 

(125) 


126  The  Presbyterian   C liter ch 

material  and  moral.  Herein  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  because  of  the  adaptability  of  its  form 
of  government  and  the  frequent  meetings  of  its 
judicatures,  can  exert  a  vast  influence  for  good 
by  hiducing  a  genuine  type  of  Christian  and 
national  brotherhood.  The  prayer  is  that  its 
members  may  harmoniously  labor  to  apply  all 
its  means  to  accomplish  the  grand  result ! 

The  Assembly's  Annual  Meetings  a  na- 
tional benefit. — In  accordance  with  this  view 
the  comparatively  frequent  meetings  of  the 
General  Assembly  have  an  important  and  bene- 
ficial influence.  It  has  been  objected,  however, 
that  the  necessarily  large  membership  of  the 
Assembly  makes  its  annual  meetings  burden- 
some to  the  Church,  because  of  the  expense  and 
of  the  inconveniences  connected  therewith.  To 
this  it  is  answered  that  the  Assemblies  meet  in 
cities,  where  accommodations  for  the  members 
in  hotels  and  otherwise  can  be  obtained.  More- 
over, it  is  suggested  that  members  of  the  church- 
es in  these  cities  in  great  numbers  deem  it  a 
privilege  to  entertain  delegates  to  the  Assembly 
at  their  own  homes  in  accordance  with  their 
ability  ;  but  still,  under  the  circumstances,  there 
will,  perhaps,  always  be  a  large  number  of  dele- 


in  the   United  States.  127 

gates  to  be  otherwise  provided  for.  This  latter 
expense  the  Church  in  general  incurs,  as  well 
as  that  of  the  fares  in  traveling.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  a  pleasure  to  note  that  railways 
have  always  been  liberal  in  making  reductions 
in  their  fares  for  the  members  of  the  Assembly. 
Progress  and  Expense. — When  we  recog- 
nize the  future  progress  of  the  Church,  which 
will  be  greatly  advanced  by  this  form  of  fre- 
quent intercourse  between  its  representative 
men,  it  would  seem  that  the  money  used  to  de- 
fray the  expenses  was  well  invested,  not  only"  for 
advancing  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  Church 
itself,  but  that  such  frequent  meetings  confer  a 
blessing  upon  the  nation  at  large,  by  promoting 
a  true  spirit  of  brotherly  feeling  among  the  peo- 
ple of  the  different  portions  of  the  country. 
Could  there  be  an  investment  more  influential 
in  promoting  a  genuine  Christianized  patriot- 
ism than  that  of  a  fund,  the  income  from  which 
should  be  expended  in  defraying  a  portion  at 
least  of  these  expenses?  The  deficiency  should 
be  collected  pro  rata,  as  at  present,  from  the 
churches,  for  it  is  better  that  the  individual 
members  themselves  share  the  responsibility 
and  the  privilege  of  thus  providing  the  necessary 


128  The  Pi^esbyierian   Clmrch 

funds.  In  view  of  the  prospective  good  results, 
will  not  some  generous  Presbyterian  patriot  in 
making  donations  for  benevolent  purposes  con- 
nected with  his  own  church,  establish  a  fund,  the 
income  from  which  would  defray  a  portion  of  the 
expenses  incurred  by  holding  the  annual  meet- 
ings of  the  General  Assembly?  Such  meetings 
quicken  the  spiritual  life  of  the  members ;  ex- 
pand their  views  of  the  grandeur  of  harmonious- 
ly and  zealously  aiding  throughout  the  land 
Christian  movements,  which,  humanly  speaking, 
will  be  more  effective  than  those  of  the  past, 
since  there  will  be  no  impediments  in  the  way — 
political  or  otherwise — to  interfere  with  the  con- 
tinuous development  of  a  higher  Christian  na- 
tional life.  This  onward  progress  on  the  part  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  will  be  of  untold  ad- 
vantage, even  to  the  material  interests  of  the 
Nation  at  large. 

There  never  has  been  a  period  in  the  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  wherein,  with  the 
Divine  blessing,  there  loomed  a  future  so  glori- 
ous for  doing  good,  as  there  will  be  when  it  is 
again  reunited,  and  prepared  to  bound  forth  in 
vigorous  strength  in  the  line  of  Christian  and 
patriotic  duty.    What  are  the  favorable  circum- 


in  the   Uiiited  States.  129 

stances  ?  One  is  that  of  a  Church  organization 
extending  throughout  the  Union  ;  strong  in  its 
numbers  of  learned  men,  and  a  membership  on 
a  high  plane  of  general  intelligence — these  com- 
mand respect ;  still  more  is  it  reverenced,  when 
it  promotes  pure  morality  among  all  the  people, 
while  binding  closer  and  closer  its  own  mem- 
bers with  ties  of  Christian  sympathy,  and  thus 
far  sustaining  the  unity  of  the  Nation  itself. 

National  Unity  desired. — The  desire  for  a 
genuine  heartfelt  national  unity  is  to-day  in- 
creasing among  the  intelligent  and  patriotic  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States.  The  circumstances 
suggest  that  this  unity  would  be  greatly  pro- 
moted by  frequent  intercourse  between  the  rep- 
resentative men  in  the  various  denominations  of 
Christians  coming  often  together  in  their  church 
judicatures,  and  from  all  sections  of  the  Union. 
The  influence  of  such  Christian  intercourse 
would  extend  beyond  the  limits  of  the  church 
proper,  while  in  their  church  relations  strength- 
ening a  closer  acquaintance  among  the  members 
themselves.  How  can  this  most  desirable  ob- 
ject be  best  attained?  Unquestionably,  the 
various  denominations  of  Christians  in  the  land 
can  secure  that  wished-for  blessing  by  practically 


130         The  Presbytei^ian   Church 

carrying  out  the  genuine  spirit  of  brotherhood 
and  charity,  as  shown  in  the  amenities  of  the 
Gospel.  If  the  members  of  all  denominations 
take  a  kindly  interest  in  the  spiritual  and  secu- 
lar welfare  of  their  own  brethren  throughout 
the  Union,  the  effect,  though  indirectly,  would 
be  salutary  upon  those  who  are  not  members  of 
the  Church  at  all.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  American  people,  especial- 
ly the  native  born,  by  association  with  friends 
and  relatives,  are  in  a  large  sense  in  sympathy 
with  Christian  morality,  while  the  influence  that 
would  banish  Christianity  and  its  spirit  from  the 
land,  is  but  the  smallest  ripple  upon  the  great 
current  of  the  religious  sentiment.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  influence  of  the  Church  upon  those 
who  are  not  its  actual  members  is  much  more 
than  we  often  imagine.  Owing  to  the  marked 
interest  which  Americans  take  in  religious  mat- 
ters, nearly  every  village  of  ordinary  size  has  at 
least  one  congregation  representing  each  de- 
nomination. The  members  of  these  congrega- 
tions constitute  a  large  majority  of  the  residents 
of  the  village,  and  each  family  has  a  circle  of  ac- 
quaintance, which  often  includes  many  that  are 
not  professing  Christians,  so  that  perhaps  nine- 


in  the   United  States.  131 

tenths  of  the  latter  class  are  brought  directly  in 
contact  with  church  members,  and  indirectly 
with  church  relations. 

Consecrated  Influence. — It  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  dearest  rights  of  all  are  recog- 
nized under  our  unique  constitutional  govern- 
ment, and  this  sentiment  practically  carried  out 
individualizes  the  interest  that  intelligent  and 
upright  persons  have  in  the  material  and  moral 
progress  of  the  Nation.  Our  government  is 
based  on  the  principle  that  "  the  people  consti- 
tute the  State,"  and  it  is  designed  to  protect  the 
rights  of  all  citizens,  and  to  advance  their  indi- 
vidual interests,  when  they  do  not  infringe  upon 
those  of  their  fellows — in  so  doing  it  promotes 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  Nation.  A  responsi- 
bility in  proportion  to  his  intelligence  rests  upon 
each  voter,  and  the  recognition  of  this  fact  adds 
to  the  latter's  interest,  and  dignifies  the  privi- 
lege of  suffrage.  All  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians should  consecrate  their  influence  to  in- 
crease that  class  of  intelligent  voters,  on  the 
ground  that  education  in  connection  with  good 
principles  is  the  only  moral  antiseptic  to  polit- 
ical or  social  evils. 

Two   Classes   of   Progress. — Taking  as  a 


132         The  Presbyterian  Church 

basis  the  general  progress  of  the  United  States 
in  the  various  forms  of  industry  that  conduce 
to  material  wealth,  during  the  century  that  has 
elapsed  since  the  organization  of  the  first  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
1788,  we  may  safely  infer  that  the  ratio  of  a 
similar  progress  will  be  as  great  from  the  pres- 
ent time  to  1988.  There  are,  however,  unmis- 
takable indications  that  such  advance  will  be  in- 
creased in  a  much  greater  ratio  than  it  was  in 
the  century  just  closing,  inasmuch  as  the  latter's 
progress  was  so  much  less  rapid  in  its  first  half 
than  in  its  second.  The  impetus  thus  attained 
will,  unquestionably,  pass  over  into  the  coming 
century,  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case  will  in- 
crease in  force  almost  indefinitely. 

Many  are  inclined  to  take  a  partial  view  of 
the  subject  by  marking  only  the  progress  in  the 
acquisition  of  material  wealth  ;  for  instance, 
what  has  been  done  in  developing  and  utilizing 
our  natural  resources  ;  the  increase  in  manufac- 
turing industries  and  general  prosperity ;  the 
subjugation  of  the  land,  and  causing  it  to  pro- 
duce abundant  crops  for  the  sustenance  of  man 
and  beast.  On  the  other  hand,  the  student 
of  history  will   recognize  that  there  has  been 


in  the   United  States.  133 

equally  as  much  progress,  during  the  last  cen- 
tury, in  the  general  education  and  diffusion  of 
useful  knowledge  among  the  people ;  and  that 
the  humanizing  influence  of  Christianity  has 
raised  them  to  a  higher  plane  of  morals,  culture, 
and  refinement.  It  was  that  influence  which 
struck  off  the  shackles  of  slavery  :  a  system  that 
much  impeded  the  moral  and  material  progress 
of  the  Nation.  Thus  the  way  is  now  clear  for 
a  continuous  and  well-balanced  advance  in  the 
moral  improvement  and  prosperity  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  which,  judging  from  present  indica- 
tions, will  far  transcend  that  of  the  last  century. 
Patriotic  Duties  of  Church  Members. — Na- 
tional sympathy  among  us  Americans  is  greatly 
increased  by  the  facilities  for  intercourse  be- 
tween the  different  portions  of  our  large  do- 
main ;  and  patriotism  urges  that  every  judicious 
means  be  used  to  promote  such  interchange  be- 
tween our  own  people  as  shall  enlarge  their  ac- 
quaintance with  one  another.  Can  there  be  a 
stronger  bond  of  sympathy  uniting  the  people 
of  the  different  sections  of  our  land  than  this 
almost  instinctive  feeling,  combined  with  the 
Christian  sentiment  of  brotherhood  ?  The  ap- 
peal is  to  all  American  Christians  of  whatever 


134  ^/^^  Presbyteriaji   Church 

name,  to  aid  in  inaugurating  a  patriotism  that 
shall  have  in  addition  to  love  of  country  for  its 
material  welfare,  another  element  which  par- 
takes of  a  national  family  feeling  that  is  based 
on  the  golden  rule  and  the  recognition  of  a 
Christian  brotherhood. 

There  never  has  been  a  period  in  our  history 
so  favorable  as  the  present  for  leading  minds  in 
the  churches  of  all  denominations  to  inculcate 
among  their  members  an  exalted  idea  of  love  of 
their  own  country,  as  a  force  to  promote  its 
prosperity  both  materially  and  morally.  Intel- 
ligent church  members  understand  why  it  is  es- 
sential in  our  Nation,  governed  as  it  is  by  the 
popular  will,  that  the  people  themselves  be 
kindly  disposed  toward  their  brethren  in  every 
section  of  the  land.  To  secure  this  grand  result 
there  is  no  influence  equal  to  that  of  prudent 
zeal  combined  with  a  Christianized  patriotism^ 
that  imbues  with  its  spirit  the  thinking  and  in- 
fluential minds  found  in  the  various  denomina- 
tions. Thus,  as  citizens  of  a  vast  territory,  all 
can  be  united  in  sympathy  with  one  another, 
and  as  one  compact  whole  constitute  a  harmo- 
nious nation,  linked  together  by  mutual  inter- 
ests.    An  important  element  of  success  in  this 


in  the   United  States.  135 

respect  is  involved  in  the  people  of  the  different 
sections  knowing  more  of  one  another  and  of 
their  own  country,  its  varied  climate,  its  pro- 
ductions and  resources.  A  government  found- 
ed as  that  of  the  American  Union,  on  the 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  sus- 
tained by  the  hearty  good-will  of  the  people 
toward  one  another,  cannot  be  otherwise  than 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  justice  and  charity, 
and  in  consequence,  be  known  only  by  its  bless- 
ings. 

Denominational  Responsibility. — Owing  to 
their  forms  of  church  government,  some  denom- 
inations have  greater  facilities  than  others  for 
exerting  a  well-defined  influence  upon  the  whole 
Nation.  This  privilege  is  obtained  by  means  of 
the  meetings  of  their  supreme  judicatures  which 
are  constituted  by  delegates  from  the  whole 
land ;  while  the  others,  because  also  of  their  form 
of  government,  are  limited,  as  to  their  influence, 
too  much  to  the  localities  of  individual  churches. 
Of  the  three  denominations — the  Episcopal,  the 
Methodist,  and  the  Presbyterian — that  have  rep- 
resentative men  as  delegates  to  their  supreme 
judicatures  from  all  portions  of  the  Union,  only 
the  last  has  annual  meetings,  while  the  other 


136         The  Presbyterian  Church 

two  meet   respectively  every  third  and   fourth 
year. 

The  comprehensive  system  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  government  imposes  upon  her  a 
greater  responsibility  than  upon  her  sisters,  be- 
cause of  her  superior  facilities  in  obtaining  au- 
thentic knowledge  from  every  portion  of  the 
Union  of  the  spiritual  condition  and  wants  of 
the  people.  She  learns  this  more  especially  by 
means  of  the  equal  representation  of  her  church 
members  in  her  several  judicatures,  and  also  in 
consequence  of  the  latter's  frequent  meetings. 
Thus  she  is  able  more  intelligently  to  prosecute 
evangelical  work  in  the  places  destitute  of  Gos- 
pel privileges,  and  where  there  is  a  reasonable 
hope  of  success  in  founding  permanent  churches. 
The  machinery  of  her  church  government  is  so 
systematic  that  it  works  throughout  the  land 
without  friction — from  the  session  of  a  single 
church  in  an  obscure  neighborhood  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  with  its  hundreds  of  delegates 
from  the  whole  Union.  The  frequent  meetings 
in  judicatures  of  her  representative  church  mem- 
bers— clerical  and  lay — in  which  meetings  there 
is  no  ecclesiastical  caste  feeling,  but  all  are  on  an 
equality  and  imbued  with  a  sense  of  individual 


ill  the   United  States.  137 

responsibility, — these  conditions  afford  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  superior  faciUties  for  exerting 
influence  throughout  the  Nation. 

This  influence  will  be  greatly  enhanced  when 
a  perfect  reunion — in  fact  and  in  spirit — is  con- 
summated, and  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church, 
thus  untrammeled,  enters  upon  her  glorious  fu- 
ture in  acting  harmoniously  with  other  denom- 
inations in  the  grand  work  of  making  this  Na- 
tion one  that  shall  be  pre-eminently  righteous. 


A  Concise  History  of  the  American  People. 

By  JACOB  HARRIS  PATTON.  M.A.,  Ph.D. 

Illustrated  with  Portraits  of  Ninety-eight  Representative  Men, 

Charts,  Maps,  etc.,  Full  Indexes,  both  Analytical 

and  Topical. 

Ncto  aacbiscH  Htrition. 

A  history  "of  the  people  for  the  people,"  at  once  compre- 
hensive and  compact. 

"  Prof.  Patton  approaches  much  nearer  to  the  ideal  historian  than 
any  writer  of  similar  books.     His  work   must   be  given  the  highest 

Slace  among  short  histories  of  the  United  States." — Christian  L'nicn^ 
few  York. 

The  result  of  Prof.  Patton's  plan,  arrangement  of  ma- 
terial, and  style  of  execution,  in  this  work  is  to  give  a  com- 
plete civil  and  military  History  of  the  United  States,  from 
the  discovery  of  the  Continent  to  Arthur's  Administration, 
divided  into  Presidential  terms,  showing  the  characteristic 
bearings  and  accomplishments  of  each  And,  pervading  all, 
the  general  effect  is  that  of  an  animated  narrative  of  the  Life 
of  the  American  People — an  admirably  complete  view, 
attractive  in  color  and  clear  of  comprehension. 

"  Prof.   Patton     .     .     .    has  thorough  command   of    his    material. 

.  .  .  We  regard  the  book  as,  on  the  whole,  the  most  valuable  pop- 
ular manual  of  American  i^istory  now  in  the  market.  It  is  a  book  to 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  young  people.  .  .  .  Students  and  readers 
of  all  kinds  will  find  it  an  invaluable  hand-book  for  reference."— /"//^ 
Presbyter ia n  Kevit'-M. 

Special  facilities  for  reference  are  found  in  the  contin- 
uous Marginal  Dates,  Cross  references  from  one  part  of  the 
work  to  another,  interesting  Statistical  Tables,  and  full  In- 
dexes. The  Analytical  Index  is  very  complete,  giving  alpha- 
betically more  than  2000  References.  The  Topical  Index 
is  of  great  value  in  the  study  or  search  after  special  subjects. 

"  ...  We  have  in  it  a  panoramic  view  of  the  nation,  from  its 
origin,  through  its  wonderful  progress,  to  its  present  standing  among 
tlie  nations  of  the  world.  .  .  .  The  publishers  have  brought  out 
the  work  in  very  handsome  style.  The  numerous  engravings  of  emi- 
nent men  give  it  also  the  attractiveness  of  a  National  Portrait  Gal- 
lery."— Xeiv  York  Observer. 

"  It  is  without  doubt  the  best  short  history  of  the  United  States  that 
has  ever  been  published.  No  progressive  teacher  can  ailord  to  do 
without  it." — Teacher's  Jnstitiite.  N.  Y. 


2  Vols.,  Extra  Cloth,  j^ilt  top,  So.OO   |    2  Tols.,  Half  Morocco,  SO-00 
1  Vol.,  Half  Kussia S7.00 


New  York:  FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 
and  A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  CO. 


Complete  from  the  discovery  of  the  Continent  to  Arthur^s  Administra' 

tion,  embracing  the  Colonial,  the  Co?tstitutio7ial,  the  Rebel- 

lioji  and  the  Reconstruction  periods . 

Patton's  Concise  History  of  the  American  People. 

"  Mr.  Patton  is  a  scholar;  his  history  is  one  of  the  very  best  ever  pub- 
lished."—C/^r/i-^'/^^  World,  London. 

"  The  style  is  clear  and  simple,  and  the  author  does  not  fail  to  be 
comprehensive  and  thorough  in  the  attempt  to  be  succinct.  It  is  an  ex- 
cellent history  by  which  to  form  the  minds  of  youth  to  an  intelligent 
appreciation  of  liberty  and  an  enlightened  patriotism."— A^.  Y.  In- 
depe7ident. 

This  book  is  a  marvel  of  conciseness.  From  preface  to  index, 
everything  in  the  volume  speaks  of  systematic  and  laborious  concen- 
tration. The  faces  of  American  History  have  been  subjected,  seem- 
ingly, to  some  rare  power  of  condensation,  and,  as  here  presented,  are 
truly  a  sort  of  double  extract  of  history.  It  is  brevity  itself.  All  that 
is  needed  is  to  be  found  in  it  and  nothing  superfluous  has  been  ad- 
mitted. That  which  meets  the  reader's  eye  is  the  siiin  of  the  whole 
matter." — Boston  Post. 

"  The  religious  and  Christian  elements  are  emphasized.  The  pro- 
portion of  the  parts,  too,  is  well  maintained.  It  seems  to  us  to  be  a 
valuable  work,  and  one  which  fills  a  place  hitherto  left  vacant."— 
American  Theological  Revieiv. 

"  The  man's  heart  is  in  his  work,  and  he  has  put  his  Christianity  in 
it  as  well,  and  these  merits,  combined  with  its  accuracy  and  succmct- 
ness  will  render  these  volumes  acceptable  to  every  student  worthy  of 
the  name." — Toronto  Globe. 

"  Mr.  Patton's  style  is  deserving  of  unqualified  praise.  It  is  pure, 
simple,  strong,  free  from  mannerism,  and  singularly  easy  and  graceful. 
We  anticipate  for  the  work  a  cordial  reception  and  extensive  popularity 
among  those  who  know  how  to  prize  the  best  books. ' ' — North  A  meri- 
can  Review. 

"  As  a  convenient  family  history,  portable  and  easy  of  reference,  Mr. 
Patton's  work  cannot  fail  to  fall  into  very  general  use  "— M  V.  Herald. 

"  Prof.  Patton's  '  Concise  History  of  the  American  People,'  having 
been  in  such  frequent  demand,  has  been  kept  (not  on  the  shelves,  but) 
among  other  books  of  ready  reference  in  the  library." — F.  Saundeks, 
Z.ibrarian,  itt  The  Astor  Library,  New  York. 

II  *  *  *  Tjjg  -writer  has  done  his  work  well.  The  style  is  easy,  and 
the  book  is  written  in  the  form  of  a  continuous  narrative.  The  author 
has  consulted  original  authorities,  but  he  makes  no  parade  of  this  fact 
in  cumbrous  foot-notes.  And,  what  is  particularly  gratifying,  he  does 
ample  justice  to  the  religious  elements  that  enter  into  the  making  of 
the  American  people.  Any  one  can  satisfy  himself  on  this  point  by 
reading  what  he  has  to  say  concerning  the  effect  of  the  Reformation  on 
American  history,  the  Huguenots,  John  Eliot,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
and  Jonathan  Edwards.  The  contrast  in  this  respect  between  the 
present  volume  and  another  recent  publication  on  the  same  subject  is 
very  great  We  hope  that  Mr.  P.atton's  work  will  have  a  place  in 
many  Christian  homes."— Francis  L.  P.A.TroN,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Ec- 
clesiastical History,  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

One  hundred  copies  are  in  use  at  Cornell  University  in  the  class  of 
U.  S.  History,  conducted  by  Prof.  MOSES  COIT  TYLER,  Author 
of  ^''  History  of  Afnerican  Literature,''''  etc.  It  is  also  kept  for  refer- 
ence in  the  libraries  of  many  private  and  public  schools. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


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